Changing Times
by eagles1254
Summary: When Lily Evans returns to Hogwarts for her 7th and final year, she is not only shocked by the selection for Head Boy, but the changes he has undergone over the summer. LilyJames and the Marauders! Rated to be on the safe side for now.
1. Arrival

"Here are the keys." James Potter stepped from his black Mercedes and tossed the aforementioned keys to a driver in the valet parking. The driver raised the hand clutching the keys in triumph; all the drivers had been jostling for position, hoping they'd be the one allowed to drive the beautiful Mercedes. "Mariana Potter will be by later to pick it up."

Sirius Black stepped from the passenger side of the car, and both young men retrieved their trunks from the trunk of the car. "Off to school?" the lucky man who James had tossed the keys to asked.

"Yup," Sirius replied.

"Whereabouts?" he asked.

"Way up north," James said, with a note of finality in his voice. "Come on, Sirius, we've got to get going, or I'm going to be late."

They both walked into the train station and to the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. James hurried through the brick wall first, barely even stopping to check if there were any muggles watching. He stormed through the barrier on the other side and didn't stop to admire the intimidating beauty of the bright red Hogwarts Express, as he normally did. He pulled his trunk onto the train and stored it in the Marauders' normal compartment, before hurrying to the front of the train and the Heads' compartment. He pulled open the door and stepped inside. He stopped dead in his tracks, the compartment was gorgeous. It was huge, with a glass table with all sorts of sweets on top of it. There were two leather couches and a mahogany coffee table. On the coffee table there were two envelopes, one reading _James Potter_ and the other _Lily Evans. _That answered James' question as to who the Head Girl to his Head Boy was. James opened his envelope and read the letter:

_James-_

_Congratulations on your appointment. Miss Evans' and your duties shall begin immediately. There will be a prefects meeting in the prefects compartment (next to yours) at 12 noon exactly. The prefects have already been notified. There are two prefects from each year and house. During this meeting, you and Miss Evans will notify the prefects of their duties, and of their common rooms' passwords. _

_You and Miss Evans will need to meet with me after the Welcoming Feast this evening. I will alert you of your duties and of scheduled meetings. There will also be information provided about living arrangements. Thank you and congratulations._

_The passwords for the houses are as follows._

_Gryffindor: Mundungus_

_Ravenclaw: Wingardium Leviosa_

_Hufflepuff: Mandrake_

_Slytherin: Mudblood_

_-Professor Dumbledore_

James smiled slightly, hoping he would finally be able to get on Lily Evans' good side. He resolved then and there that he would end the showing-off, the pranks, the ruffling of his hair, and the cursing of Snape and just be himself for Lily, and pray to god that that would finally be good enough for her. He collapsed onto the couch and waited for Lily to arrive, partly awestruck that she was actually late.

The taxi screeched to a halt outside King's Cross Station at quarter to 11. The backseat door flung open and a seventeen year old girl stepped haphazardly out, shoving some money to the cab driver. She removed a large school trunk from the trunk of the cab and hurriedly yanked it out. She dragged it on a trolley into the station and through the barrier onto Platform 9 ¾. She stuffed her stuff in the compartment that she and her best friends always occupied and hurried down the hall to the door to the head compartment. She straightened her emerald green polo shirt and her short white ruffled skirt which reached to just below her fingertips. She tossed her hair behind her shoulder and opened the door. "Sorry, I'm late," she began as the Head Boy turned toward her. "The taxi driver was – POTTER?"

"No, Evans, I'm sorry I wasn't the taxi driver," James replied smartly. Lily rolled her eyes but couldn't help noticing that his joke was accompanied by a genuine, yet sad smile as opposed to his normal arrogant smirk.

"Thank goodness you weren't. I wouldn't have survived the ride if you had been," Lily retorted. James thought he detected a hint of a joke in her voice. "You're Head Boy?"

"Yup. You're actually taking the news rather well, in my opinion. I was shell-shocked. Sirius, too. He probably didn't speak for a week."

Lily snorted. She couldn't imagine Sirius not speaking for an entire week. And, what had gotten into James since the end of the last year?

"Here you go," he said, flipping a yellowed envelope in her direction. "From Dumbledore. We can discuss our duties once you've read it." Lily nodded already immersed in the letter.

"How may I help you?"

"I need to rent a car," Margaret Correnti told the salesgirl.

"Well, you've come to the right place," the salesgirl smiled.

"I know that's why I came here. Not to be rude, but I really need to hurry. My train leaves from King's Cross at 11."

"Ok, well fill this out and I'll tell you the parking space number and give you the keys."

Margaret began to hurriedly fill out the form. As soon as she was finished she shoved the paperwork back at the salesgirl and shoved her hand toward her. "Keys," she demanded. The salesgirl dropped them disdainfully into her hand and snapped, "Section E, parking space 145."

Margaret said, "What type of car is it?"

"Volkswagon."

"Thanks." She dragged her trunk toward the exit of the London International Airport.

With ten minutes to spare until the Hogwarts Express left King's Cross, Remus Lupin and Morgan and Joshua Browne stumbled out of Mr. Browne's car. "Bye Daddy," Morgan said as she collected her trunk from the back of her father's car.

"Thanks for the ride, Mr. Browne," Remus called over his shoulder as he and Morgan hurried toward the barrier. They quickly hurried through the barrier and onto the train. Remus stored his stuff in the Marauders' compartment and exchanged a quick hello with Sirius before hurrying to prefects' compartment.

Morgan stowed her trunk in her usual compartment, noticing as she did so that Lily was already there, but not in the compartment. She must have been named Head Girl, Morgan noted, which would explain why Morgan had been named prefect this year. She hurried to the prefects' compartment where she met Remus, who was her good friend and neighbor.

At 10:55 Olivia Chase and Peter Pettigrew clambered out of their respective parents' cars and hurried onto the platform, knowing that if they dawdled even slightly they would miss the very punctual train to Hogwarts. Just as the door into the train station swung shut behind Olivia, a plum purple Volkswagon screeched to a halt and Margaret Correnti exited from the driver's side.

She threw the keys at an employee, screaming, "rental, from Enterprise." She collected her trunk from the car and dragged it hurriedly onto the platform and then onto the train.

About three minutes after Margaret crashed into King's Cross, three final students did so. Andrew, Katherine and Heidi Vincent flew into the station, through the barrier and onto the train, the speed that they were moving at confusing many a muggle in the station.

Lily finished reading her letter from Dumbledore and turned to James. "Alright, so we need to assign the prefects train corridor patrols and hand out passwords to each prefect. They'll only know the passwords for their own house. We're the only ones who know all four, and we're expected not to abuse that privilege," she added harshly.

"I won't abuse it. Why don't we get this meeting started? I want to catch up with my friends and I'm sure you do as well."

Lily nodded, but stopped him before he entered the prefects' compartment. "Potter, wait."

He kept his hand on the doorknob, but turned to look at her. He nodded at her, signaling her to continue. "I think we should call a truce," Lily confessed a bit nervously. "Friends?" she extended her hand toward James, who took it.

"Friends," he agreed, smiling ever-so-slightly at her. She smiled back. He seemed so different from last year. Lily was determined to avoid setting herself up for disappointment by believing too much in James.

"Come on, we have a meeting to conduct, James."

He smiled again. He loved it when she said his first name, after six years of only hearing his surname coming from her mouth. He followed her into the prefects' compartment and stood beside Lily to begin the meeting. "Hi everyone," Lily began. "My name is Lily Evans, and I'm the head girl this year. I'm a Gryffindor and a seventh year, obviously. Why don't we go around and say our name, house and year?"

"James Potter," James said. "I'm a Gryffindor Seventh Year as well."

The introductions continued through the prefects.

"Remus Lupin. Gryffindor Seventh year."

"My name is Morgan Browne and I'm a Gryffindor Seventh Year as well."

"Courtney Hallett, Hufflepuff Seventh Year."

"Lucas Washington, Hufflepuff fifth year."

"Alice Prewett, Ravenclaw seventh year."

"Frank Longbottom, Ravenclaw seventh year."

"Annie Smith, Hufflepuff fifth year."

"Oliver Hitchinson, Hufflepuff seventh year."

The introductions continued through the remaining Gryffindors, two of whom were on James' Quidditch team (Johnny Parker, a sixth year and Dylan Finch, a fifth year) Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws until they reached the Slytherins, who refused to speak. James glared at them, but they still wouldn't speak.

"Snape, Black, care to introduce yourselves or do you want me to take on that task?" James inquired sweetly.

They glared back at him. "Alright," James said. "Prefects, in the back we have Severus Snape and Patricia Parkinson, Slytherin seventh years, Rodolphus Lestrange and Bellatrix Black, Slytherin sixth years and Regulus Black and Zera Phelps, Slytherin fifth years. Now that we're through with the introductions, Lily and I just have a few announcements to make. Lily?"

"Alright, after the meeting come up to James or I and we can tell you your houses password. Don't try to trick us into to telling you the wrong house, because it's not going to work and it's just going to land you in detention before we even reach the school. James?"

"Ok, the only other thing we need to go over is patrols, so let's make this quick and painless. It's 12:30 now, so at 1 the fifth years will patrol the hallways until 2, when the sixth years will take over until three. At three, the seventh years will take over, and Lily and I will be in charge of patrolling the last hour and getting everyone off the train when we reach Hogsmeade around five. Does that sound ok, to you, Lily?"

"Fine," she answered. "Prefects, just get your house's password and then you're dismissed, remember your patrol time. James and I will know if you don't patrol, so I suggest you comply and do as we told you."

There was a scraping of chairs and all the prefects stood, forming two lines to receive their houses' passwords from Lily or James. Fifteen tedious minutes later, all the passwords had been handed out, and they were free to go. "Do you want to meet back at the Heads' compartment at ten of four?" Lily asked as James prepared to leave the prefects' compartment after the meeting.

"Sounds good. I'll see you then Lily," James smiled slightly before he left the compartment. He wound his way slowly toward the Marauders' compartment on cloud nine, not believing he had just spent an hour and a half with Lily and not gotten into one fight or made one suggestive remark. He sauntered into his best friends' compartment, dreamy facial expression still firmly in place.

"Prongs," Peter exclaimed, being the only one who hadn't yet seen James. "How was your summer?"

"Huh?" James asked, finally registering Peter's words. "Sorry, I was thinking."

"How was your summer?"

"Oh, it was ok.

"I didn't do much. I spent a little bit of time at Moony's and Mum and I went to Ireland for a week. I heard about your dad. I'm sorry."

"Thanks," James commented, seating himself next to Sirius, across from Remus and Peter.

"Ok, Prongs, spill," Sirius demanded. "What was up with that dreamy look, and why does Moony have his superior knowledge look on his face?"

"I just spent an hour and a half with Lily and we didn't get in a fight, in fact, we're now officially friends. Friendship is the foundation of a good relationship."

Sirius snorted at James' last sentence. "Whatever, Potter. But congratulations on your new friend."

James smiled slightly, his thoughts on what had happened to his father. He wished Peter had never brought it up.

About five minutes after James left the prefects' compartment, Lily exited it as well. She hurried down the hallway eager to see Olivia and Margaret and to greet Morgan properly. She banged the door of their normal compartment open, and greeted her friends, "hey, girls."

Margaret, Olivia and Morgan turned their attention to her and grinned. "Lils," they cried, standing. "How are you?" The girls tangled themselves in a many armed hug. Eventually, Lily pulled back and examined each of her friends closely. Olivia was wearing a pink spaghetti strap tank top and flared dark blue jeans. Her long chestnut brown hair was loose around her shoulders and her blue eyes sparkled as she grinned at Lily, revealing white teeth. "You look great, Liv. You're so tan. You too, Maggie."

It was true. Maggie's black hair was pulled into a loose ponytail and her brown eyes shined with enthusiasm as usual. She was wearing a short black skirt and a pink t-shirt. And Morgan and Lily didn't pale in comparison to their best friends. Morgan was wearing baggy white capris and a light blue shirt which complemented her eyes perfectly. Her blonde hair was cut in a cute style, framing her face and reaching to just halfway down her neck in layers. Lily wore a white skirt and a green polo shirt, as well as a white headband, keeping her neat, red hair back from her face. Her thick, straight hair tumbled down her neck and back to just below her shoulder blades. "Morgan, you look amazing as well."

"Well, Lils, head girl, and you're looking pretty nice yourself," Morgan answered grinning at Lily.

"I haven't seen any of you in ages. Tell me about your summers," Lily demanded sitting down with Olivia, across from Maggie and Morgan.

Morgan started. "Remus and I spent a lot of time together, and our families went on vacation to Greece together, which was a ton of fun."

"Where in Greece?" Olivia shifted her position next to Lily to look more intently at Morgan.

Morgan leaned back and glanced around at her friends. "Athens, mostly. We also went to Crete. It was paradise."

"Alright," Maggie grinned. "So really, what's going on between you and Remus? And don't say 'nothing' because we all know that's not true."

"I don't know." A pensive look spread across Morgan's face. "I wish I could tell you."

"Well," Maggie looked intently to her side at Morgan's profile. "Do you like Remus?"

Morgan blushed. "No, of course not. He's a Marauder."

"Am I supposed to believe that?" Lily laughed. "Just because I have an issue with the Marauders doesn't mean that I'm going to have a problem with you crushing on Remus, now if it was Black…"

It was Maggie's turn to blush. Morgan turned sharply on her. "Blushing, Mags? Do you like Black?"

"You're just changing the subject, Browne," Maggie defended herself. "I certainly never heard the end of the conversation about Remus."

"Do you like Remus?" Olivia asked Morgan bluntly.

"I suppose," Morgan looked toward the ground, her face turning pink.

"That's ok," Lily assured Morgan. "None of us minds in the slightest."

"Yes, but it's not like he actually likes me back, so it's not an issue. Anyway he has Veronica Samuelson, that Ravenclaw."

"They're not that serious," Maggie brushed the tidbit of information aside. "They'll break up within a week."

"I doubt it," Morgan lamented. "He got a letter from her practically every day we were in Greece."

"Well, did he like getting the letters?" Olivia inquired reasonably.

"I don't know," Morgan moaned. "Let's just see how this disaster plays out and talk about Liv's summer."

"Ok," Olivia began to illustrate her summer rather colorfully, beginning with her July visit to Hawaii with her family. "We went to Hawaii, all of us: Me, Jake, Sam and Mum and Dad. We were there for the entire month of July. There were some really handsome Hawaiian boys there, but I wasn't really interested in any of them. They were basically all arrogant surfers."

"Wait," Lily leaned forward in interest. "Did you spend any time at all with Andrew over the summer?"

"Almost none," Olivia sighed. "We got our school stuff together this summer, toward the end of August. That was fun; I never imagined that shopping with a boy would actually be a good experience though."

The four girls all laughed. "But anyway, I did have a nice summer, and the little time I spent with Drew was fun. Sam, Jake and I had a good time learning to surf in Hawaii."

"That's awesome." Maggie turned her attention to Lily. "Alright, Lils, Liv and Morgan have told us about their summers, what about you?"

"In comparison to you guys', my summer was boring. We didn't go anywhere, or do anything, other than to prepare for the wedding of the millennium."

"Wait," Morgan interrupted. "What wedding?"

"Oh, I haven't told you!" Lily exclaimed. "Petunia's evil boyfriend, Vernon Dursley proposed. They're getting married."

"Ouch," Maggie felt bad for Lily. "When's it set for?"

"December," Lily glared harshly at the ground.

"Well, hopefully by then you'll have a boyfriend to drag along with you. If not, I'm sure McGonagall would be happy to let one of us go."

"Liv," Lily groaned. "I'm not going to have a boyfriend who I'm serious enough with to drag along to my horse of a sister's wedding. But that's completely off subject, the point is, my sister is getting married and I had to spend my entire summer being measured for a pink frilly bridesmaid's dress, which clashes with my hair, I might add. Then I had to help with the wedding plans, which was a serious bummer. It was a pretty awful summer."

"Merlin, Lils," Olivia looked at Lily with a shocked expression on her face. "I feel so bad for you. If you don't have a boyfriend to bring to the wedding, for God's sake, one of us will go with you. I'll go."

"Thanks, Liv," Lily smiled. "You're all great friends. But now enough, about me, I want to hear about Maggie's summer. So, Mags, you're going to have to spill now. You've hid it from us for long enough."

Maggie laughed and flipped her dark hair over her shoulder. "Well, it really wasn't all that exciting to tell you the truth. I spent it in Italy, except for the two weeks that my Mum and Dad let Giovanni and I go to the Canary Islands."

Lily sighed. "You guys all had awesome summers, not to make you feel bad or anything, but seriously, Mags, you and Giovanni got to go to the Canary Islands, Liv, you and your entire family went to Hawaii and Morg, you went to Greece with Remus and your families. What did I do? Spent my summer break planning a pink frilly wedding."

"Oh, Lils," Maggie cried. "What's Petunia's wedding date?"

"December 28," Lily grimaced, already dreading the date.

"Well, we get out for break on December 10. For the first two weeks of break, we are going on a vacation somewhere. Just you, me, Liv and Morgan. We'll have a great time, all of us, and then we'll go to our own families for Christmas and the next few days and we'll meet you at Petunia's wedding."

Lily stood up and crossed the compartment to hug Maggie. "Thanks Mags, that's a great idea, we should start planning right now. You guys are great friends."

"No problem, we're best friends, that's what we do for each other, isn't it?" Maggie said, matter-of-factly.

"That's right," Olivia and Morgan agreed.

"Thanks, you guys really are the best," Lily smiled around at her friends.

"We know," Olivia smiled arrogantly.

"Modest, too," Lily muttered affectionately.

The rest of the time passed quickly with Morgan being required to leave them at three to patrol with Remus and the rest of the seventh year prefects. At quarter of four, Lily stood up. "Mags, Liv, I have to go patrol with James."

"Fine," Maggie pretended to be terribly offended.

"Don't worry, Morgan will be back soon."

"Good, hey, why aren't you freaking out that you have to patrol with James? What's going on here?"

Olivia looked up with an interested expression. Lily blushed a little bit, "we've just decided to be friends."

"More details to follow," Maggie promised as Lily rushed out of the compartment, her face bright red.

"So, Liv," Maggie continued, "what is up with Lily?"

"Well, it appears that James is Head Boy, and Lily has to work with him. That's actually rather surprising, I've never heard of the head's being from the same house. I bet Lily decided that they needed a truce or something to work together."

Maggie nodded and Olivia took that as a signal to continue. "I think they've decided to be friends, and James is probably finally being himself around her, and she's all confused about her feelings."

"That's a decent idea," Maggie mused.

"Decent?" Olivia glared at Maggie, "if I do say so myself, I think it's quite excellent."

"Sorry, I'm late," Lily gasped, mortified at herself for being late twice in one day.

James shifted his position on the couch and smiled slightly at her, yet again. "It's alright, although I must say I never thought the day would come when Lily Evans was twice late."

"Blame this time on Maggie and Liv," Lily smiled. "They decided the moment I had to leave to come here would be a good time for an all-out interrogation. They're probably still talking about me back in our compartment."

James laughed, "well, come on, we can start a little early, give the seventh years a break, other than Snivelly, of course."

Lily grinned, but wasn't entirely pleased with his nick-name for Snape. "Alright," she agreed and they exited the Heads' compartment in a slightly tense silence.

About five awkwardly quiet minutes later James spoke up. "Alright, Lily, right about now you could cut the tension with the knife. Is anything bothering you?"

"No," Lily said too quickly, studying her shoes.

"That's not true; you aren't a very good liar."

Lily continued to glare at the ground, but her gaze softened slightly. "Well, that's a good thing to be bad at."

"Depending on who you are," James pointed out. "Now, if someone like Sirius was a bad liar, they'd be pretty much screwed. But a well-behaved person like you is fine with out the skill of telling a good cover-up story. But something is eating you. Out with it."

"How can you be so mean to Snape?" She shifted her hard glare from the ground to James' face. "I mean, I know he certainly isn't the nicest of people, but still, I can't see how you can just treat anyone like that."

"Lily, I know you probably can't understand this, because you're so nice and kind and serious, but the fact of the matter is that Sirius and I aren't. Neither of us is a particularly good person, but that's off the point. Have you ever noticed that our animosity toward Snape didn't really start until third year? That's when Snape befriended Sirius' little brother, Regulus; he's a fifth year prefect now. Sirius was so sure that when Regulus came to Hogwarts, he'd be in Gryffindor too. He was so angry when Regulus was sorted into Slytherin. We took it upon ourselves to make Snape's life miserable and maybe, just maybe, turn Regulus away from Snape and the Dark Arts and most importantly, Voldemort. I'd say we succeeded in making Snape's life miserable, but looking back on it, it probably wasn't our best decision."

"No, I'd say it wasn't," Lily's glare softened. "But I understand it a little bit better now."

"I'm glad; I hope we can be friends."

"Me, too. It seems like it could work."

"Definitely, but good friends know each other inside out, so we need to get to know each other. Who do you live with?"

"My boyfriend, Rick," Lily laughed at the mortified expression on James' face. "I'm just kidding. My parents wouldn't let me ever live with my boyfriend until we were good and married."

"Do you have a boyfriend named Rick?" James asked.

"No, I don't have a boyfriend. I live with my parents Megan and Chris Evans and my sister Petunia. What about you?"

"It's me, my parents, Elizabeth and Harold, and Sirius at the Potter manse."

"Manse?"

"Of course. No, I'm kidding. The house was originally built for my dad's family when my dad was young. He has ten brothers and sisters, so naturally the house was rather large."

"I would think so. Are there a lot of unoccupied bedrooms?"

"Well, my parents are in the master bedroom, and Sirius and I have two of the other bedrooms. The rest are all guest bedrooms, with one bed in each and their own bathrooms connected. But there are eight rooms without occupants. My parents say they get lonely by themselves when Sirius and I are at school."

"I should think so. Your house seems massive, just by description."

"What about you, Lily? Do you get along with your sister? I always wished I had a sibling."

"Well, actually we don't get along at all. We did before I got accepted to Hogwarts. She's two years older than me and we were best friends, before I was accepted here. She began to hate me because I'm magical and ever since we've been fighting to no end."

"What," James had a look of utter confusion on his face. "She hates you because you're magical? Wouldn't most muggles kill to be magical?"

"It's kind of like the Slytherins thinking I'm unfit to being in the Wizarding world, because I'm muggle-born," Lily told him, wondering where in her mind the comparison had ever materialized from. "It's the same way when I go home. Petunia thinks I'm not good enough for her world because I'm magical. It's exactly the same concept as muggle-born hating."

"I'm sorry, Lily," James looked and sounded genuinely sorry, too. "That sucks."

"Well," Lily looked up into his face. "It's not as bad here, because I have Maggie, Liv, and Morgan. They're the greatest friends anyone could ask for. And now I have you as well."

James smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "I just feel bad, Lily. If there's anything I can do…" he trailed off.

"Just don't torment the younger kids anymore, or Snape. You're changing, James and it's definitely a very good thing."

James smiled down at her. "Thanks, Lily."

She smiled up at him in return. "Tell me about your parents. What are they like?"

Sadness crept into James' eyes, but he spoke anyway. "My mum is great. She's so strong and kind and caring. I love her so much. Our house-elf, Levy, is so sweet. My mum, Sirius and I have a lot of fun together."

"It's so great how close you and your mum are. Are you close with your dad, too?"

James looked angrily at the ground. "He and I were very close." He didn't elaborate and Lily didn't pressure him to. "What are fun things to do when you're a muggle?" James asked, changing the subject.

"We have sports, like Quidditch, which a lot of us play. I play football, but only in the park, they don't have organized leagues for girls. I have some friends, though who play with me."

"I actually play football as well."

"Really? Do you play on an organized team?"

"Yeah, I do. I play for an under 18 team in Manchester. We're pretty popular."

"Do you get to leave school to play?"

"Yeah, my first game this year is over Halloween. I bet you could come, since it's on a weekend, if you'd like."

"That would be fun."

The conversation trailed off for several minutes until James spoke up fairly randomly. "Can I teach you how to fly?" James looked so excited that Lily had to accept.

"Alright," she agreed, a little apprehensively.

"Great," James enthused. "It will be so much fun. You're going to be the greatest flier."

Lily smiled and checked her watch. "There's only ten minutes before we get off the train. Do you want to start getting the students ready? We'll just warn them, and make sure they have their uniforms on."

"Before we do that, Lily," James glanced down at his grey sweatshirt, and Lily's white skirt. "We should probably change ourselves."

Lily looked at herself and James and laughed. "Good idea, it would look slightly hypocritical if we showed up telling students to get dressed when we were still in our muggle clothes, wouldn't it?"

James laughed, and agreed. They made their way back to their respective compartments to change. Lily's came first on the long train corridor. "I'll see you later, Lily," James said as she heaved the heavy door to the compartment open. Lily nodded and closed the compartment door behind her. "Hey Lils," Morgan greeted, looking up from her book.

"Hey," Lily said, looking at her three friends, who were all dressed in their uniforms. Morgan was reading a book called _Pride and Prejudice, _and Olivia and Maggie were involved in an intense game of chess. "Hey Mags, Liv," Lily called, not the least bit surprised when she didn't get an answer from either of them.

"What are you doing here Lils?" Morgan watched her dig through her school trunk.

"James and I are changing and then we're going to make sure everyone on the train is ready to unload."

Morgan nodded and returned to her book. Lily dug her black pleated skirt, maroon blouse, grey tights and black heeled shoes from her trunk and began to get dressed. She pulled a black robe with the Gryffindor emblem from her trunk and threw it on herself.

James hurried into the Marauders' compartment, which was the last on the train. Peter was watching as Sirius and Remus competed in a violent game of Exploding Snap. "Hey guys," James greeted his friends as he entered the compartment.

Peter swiveled around in his chair to glance at James. "Hey Prongs."

Neither Remus nor Sirius acknowledged his presence, but he didn't care. He opened his trunk and threw several items of clothing on the floor: a maroon button-up shirt, a pair of black dress pants, a golden necktie, a pair of black shoes, and a black robe with a Gryffindor emblem on it. Sirius looked up from the game of Exploding Snap as James' shoes clunked against the floor. "Prongs, are you getting dressed already?"

James looked at him, "yah, why?"

"Because, we've never worn our uniform on the first day, ever."

"I know, but I'm head boy now, that has to change." James' voice was muffled, because his head was stuck in his trunk, as he tried to find his head boy badge. He found it and changed. He left Sirius, Remus and Peter, but not before he told them: "Guys, you should probably get changed, too. Lily and I are required to come around and make sure everyone is in their robes, so I reckon I'll be back to make sure you are."

James stepped from the Marauders' compartment and wondered where he was supposed to meet Lily. He figured he'd just walk up the train corridor and run into Lily at some point. He was right, just as he passed Lily's compartment, whistling idly, and looking for the head girl, Lily stepped out of her compartment and walked into James' right arm. "Ouch," she stumbled backwards back into her compartment.

"Lily," James turned to look at what had caused the noise. "Are you alright?"

"Yah, yah, I'm fine. You ready to go?"

"Hang on a second. I want to greet your girls." He stepped into the room and his charming façade immediately fell into place. "Hello, ladies."

"Hey James," Morgan greeted him.

"Morgan," James grinned. "How have you been?"

"Great, you been practicing?"

"Of course, you?"

"Yup, I think Liv has been too."

Olivia looked up from her chess game with Maggie. "Hey James! I've been practicing, too."

"I knew I could trust you, Liv," James smiled. "I've been named captain this year, and we've got to win, it's my last year, and yours and Morgan's."

"We'll win, James, the team's going to fall right into place. We have everything we need, except a chaser," Olivia raised her hand and began counting on her fingers. "You at chaser, with Morgan, Johnny and Dylan at beater, me at keeper and Ethan at seeker. You only have to find one position."

"Good point," James grinned. "Well, Lily and I should go, because we've really got to check all the compartments."

"Later James," Olivia called, returning to her chess game.

"Bye Morgan, Liv, Maggie," James and Lily called in unison as they began to walk down the train. They stuck their heads in each compartment in the back of the train, telling the students to make sure they were in their robes by the time the train stopped. Just as Lily and James reached the first compartment with first years in it, the train began to slow down. "Hello," James smiled at the three girls and two boys in the compartment. "My name is James Potter, I'm the head boy and this is Lily Evans, she's the head girl. What are your names? Are you first years?"

A small blond girl spoke up, "Martha Hermes, I'm a first year. I was so surprised when I got my letter. My parents aren't witches."

"Neither are mine," Lily looked kindly at the small girl. "I'm muggle-born as well. If you have any questions, just come ask me."

"Thanks," the small girl, Martha, blushed.

The next girl, a black haired one, introduced herself, "I'm Catherine Anthony."

A red haired boy introduced himself next, "I'm Bill Weasley, and I'm growing my hair out really long." He smiled a self-satisfied smile.

Lily and James grinned at one another as Kingsley Shacklebolt, a tall black boy introduced himself in a rather deep voice for an eleven year old. Following Kingsley was a brown haired girl who announced herself as Julia Young. "Well," James told the small students, after they finished with the introductions. "You should probably put on your school robes, we're going to be at the train station pretty soon."

The small students smiled admiringly at James and Lily. "Well, we'd better get going," James said, steering Lily out of the compartment, softly placing his hand on the small of her back. The first years giggled. Lily blushed a bright pink, and James dropped his hand once they were in the corridor. "I think we should just trust that the students are in their robes, because the train's basically stopped."

"Ok, that sounds fine." The train halted and James grinned.

"I think we're here." Lily nodded and the two exited the train and greeted Hagrid who was waiting for the first years.

"Lily, James, how are you doin'?"

"Fine," James smiled up at the tall giant. "You here to collect the first years?"

"Yep, why are you here, James? I'd guess you were head boy, but you?"

Lily laughed, "Don't feel bad, that's what I thought too, Hagrid. But he is actually head boy."

"Well, that Dumbledore is certainly unpredictable. Great man, Dumbledore."

James smilingly agreed, as Lily tugged on his robe sleeve. "What?" he asked.

"The train is being un-boarded, we have to supervise."

"Ok, do we just make sure no students sneak into the station or away?"

"Yah, that's about it."

James stood next to Lily, watching to make sure no students escaped from the line headed straight for the seemingly horseless carriages. James and Lily stood in their positions until the conductor got off the train, and told them they were free to go since there weren't any students left on the train. Lily and James made their way over to the carriage that had been left for them to use. As Lily clambered ungracefully into it, James stopped dead in his tracks, alarmed at the sight he saw. "Is it just me, or do the carriages have something pulling them now?"

Lily looked concernedly at him, and then to the place at the front of the carriage where James was staring and the horses would have been. "James, I don't see anything, but we really need to get up to school. Come on, get in the carriage."

James obediently climbed into the carriage and sat next to Lily, but he couldn't get the image of the skeletal horse out of his mind. They sat in silence during the ride up the long pathway to Hogwarts. Lily was worriedly wondering what James had been talking about when he had said he'd seen horses pulling the carriages, because there were obviously no horses. James was confused as to why he had never seen the horses before in his seven years at Hogwarts. Surely he wasn't that unobservant. The carriage pulled to a halt outside the great oak doors into the Entrance Hall of Hogwarts. James and Lily climbed out and James made a point of not looking at the skeletal horses in front of the carriage. He decided to forget about them until he and Lily met with Dumbledore after the feast. There was no point in worrying about something he had no answer for. As he and Lily entered the Great Hall they noticed that everyone was seated and that their respective groups were sitting together in the middle of the Gryffindor table. James surveyed the tables for any girls that Sirius, Remus or Peter would be interested in.

They reached the Gryffindor table where Sirius and Remus were sitting with Maggie between them on one side and Peter was sitting with Morgan next to him. Morgan was across the table from Remus. James sat down next to Sirius and across from Lily, who had sat down next to Olivia. "Good evening." Professor Dumbledore greeted the group. "Welcome back to Hogwarts. I trust you've all had a restful and refreshing break." Sirius and James exchanged a look; both of them had had a bad summer vacation.

"I have many announcements to make, but I trust that you're all hungry, so I'll wait until after the meal to make them. So, let the sorting begin."

James shifted in his seat and smiled slightly at Lily. She smiled at him and directed her attention to the front of the room where Professor McGonagall was setting up the sorting hat and stool. He also shifted his attention there.

McGonagall immediately began the sorting. "Anthony, Catherine." The small girl hurried to the stool embarrassedly, her black hair flying behind her. She sat on the edge of the stool and the hat sank over her eyes. "RAVENCLAW," Lily and James exchanged a glance, happy that Catherine had gotten into a good house.

The sorting continued, until they reached "Hermes, Martha."

She was sorted into Gryffindor and became the second new Gryffindor after Mary Stevens. There was an empty seat between James and the other new first year, and Martha stood behind it. "James," she asked, sweetly, a blush creeping up her cheeks. "May I sit here?"

"Of course," he pulled out the chair for the blonde girl. "We're glad to have you here in Gryffindor. Martha's your name, right?"

The small girl nodded and beamed at him for remembering her name. James redirected his attention to the sorting and Lily smiled at him. He had grown up so much. Names flew by as Lily thought about James' newfound maturity. She expected it had come from something to do with his father, considering the sadness that had crept into his eyes when she had asked James about him. They reached a name of another of the kids that Lily had met earlier, "Shacklebolt, Kingsley." He was sorted into Gryffindor and sat confidently down next to Mary Stevens who was whispering to Martha. Soon enough Gryffindor got another new student in "Weasley, Bill." And the final student was sorted into Hufflepuff, "Young, Julia."

James leaned back in his chair and groaned quietly as Bill Weasley sat down next to Lily. "I'm so hungry."

Lily rolled her eyes. Maybe he wasn't completely matured yet. "Alright," Professor Dumbledore stood up. "Welcome to Hogwarts, and welcome back. As I previously mentioned I have several notices to inform you of, but we're all very hungry, so we'll wait into after the feast."

James smiled appreciatively at the Headmaster. "Thank goodness," he exclaimed as the food materialized in front of him. He grabbed a little bit of everything hungrily.


	2. The Most Terrible Decision

**

* * *

Author's Note: **Okay, so there was no note before the last chapter, but I have a couple of things to say. I got a few reviews for Chapter One and I want to thank everyone who reviewed. They definitely helped out and motivated me to update. This update was really fast because I already had the chapter written and just had to edit, so unfortunately they won't all be this fast. It's a little long and I apologize for that. I just couldn't find a good breaking point to end the chapter at. If you're reading this, please try to take a few seconds and review. Last chapter I had around 80 hits and 3 reviews. If you have a second, just drop a note telling me what you think about my story. To clear something up, Morgan and Remus are neighbors and were good friends even before they went to Hogwarts. Thanks!

**Disclaimer: **This all belongs to J.K. Rowling. I am borrowing her characters only for my personal entertainment and that of users. I am not making any profits of her characters.

Here we go…

**Chapter 2**

James leaned back in his chair and looked across the table at Lily who had long since finished. She was conversing in hushed tones with Olivia, and James grinned. "Lily, can I listen?"

She glared at him. "Unless you want to hear gross girly things, then no."

"Ewww, I'll just mind my own business," James grinned.

"Good choice," Lily returned to her conversation with Olivia.

"They're probably just talking about classes or something. Girls are never talking about 'girly things' when they tell you they are. When they talk about those types of things they just make you listen." Sirius grinned at James. "Just thought you'd like to know."

James rolled his eyes, and glanced at Sirius' plate which was brimming over with Shepherd's Pie. "How many servings have you had?"

"This is my fourth," Sirius answered around a repulsively large spoonful of pie.

"That's disgusting, Black," Lily snapped. She shot a pointed look at Maggie. Maggie smiled, but didn't seem to register it.

"Sorry, Lily, love."

"Ugh, Black, just leave me alone." Lily began talking to Olivia again.

"What do you see in her?" Sirius asked, shooting a glare at Lily.

James smiled dreamily. "Everything," he said and didn't elaborate.

"We definitely need to talk."

James directed his attention away from Sirius and Lily and at Olivia's boyfriend, Andrew Vincent. Andrew was in James' year and house, and although he wasn't the trouble-maker that the rest of the Marauders were, he was their friend. Andrew knew about their secrets, but didn't have the courage to partake in their dangerous full-moon and after-hours adventures.

Ten or so minutes later, Lily finally ended her conversation with Olivia and beckoned to James. "Come on, we need to go meet Dumbledore."

James followed her as she tried to strike up a conversation. "So, James how was your summer?"

James' face paled slightly and he shrugged indifferently. "It was ok."

Lily remembered something she had read in her subscription to the _Daily Prophet_ over the summer. The article appeared in her mind's eye as clearly as it would have if it were in front of her face.

_**Famous Auror Injured Indefinitely in Attack.**_

_By Gaylord Harrison_

_LONDON- Last night, as dawn broke in the residential section of Diagon Alley in London, an attack was just finishing up and the second-in-command of the auror department, Alastor Moody went into the final house to check for any last survivors or bodies. He came out with alarming news. Harold James Potter, the head of the auror department, had been tortured to insanity by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, himself._

_Moody claims he asked Potter a series of questions, none of which Potter could reply satisfactorily to. Moody apparated to St. Mungo's before meeting with the media, and got a team of healers to check over Potter. The healers confirmed all of our worst fears. Potter has been officially labeled insane by a team of the most qualified healers in England. As of right now, the rest of his family is waiting for news of what is to happen next. _

_His immediate family is made up of his son and daughter James Harold Potter, 17, and Kelsey Elizabeth Potter, 7 and his wife, Mariana Jones Potter. Sirius Orion Black, 17, is also said to be a close family friend of the Potter's, despite the seemingly natural blood feud between the two old, yet opposite pureblood families._

_The final decision on what Mr. Potter's fate will be will be made by Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Albus Dumbledore, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, Minerva M. McGonagall, second-in-command in the auror department, Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody and the team of England's best healers who diagnosed Mr. Potter's ailment, along with Mr. Potter's wife, Mariana._

_The house attacked belonged to long-time friend of Dumbledore and Potter, Sean Finnegan. Finnegan's son attends Hogwarts and is a fifth year. The Finnegans were not at their house when it was attacked. The attack is believed to be staged by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Although the Finnegans did not die, both of their next-door neighbors were caught in the crossfire and died. These two families were a half-blood family, the family of Mr. William R. Neubert, and the Indian-English family of Mr. Rian Patel. Altogether, six people lost their lives in this attack, and Potter lost his sanity. Potter was found in the Neubert home, and it looked as though he was trying to protect Mr. Neubert's youngest child, six year old, Alicia, who died in the attack._

_Potter's only child, James Potter, 17, was at the scene of the attack, and although he did not see his father being tortured saw many others die. _

_More information will follow, be sure to check back to this newspaper for follow-up articles. _

_-July 16, 1976_

Lily looked up at James. "Oh, alright. You seem down, if you ever need to talk, I'll be willing to listen"

"Really," James looked surprised.

"That's what friends are for, isn't it?" she asked. She grinned up at him. "I'd be a pretty lousy friend if I couldn't listen to you, wouldn't I?" She thought she saw a hint of disappointment in James' eyes, but it was gone in a flash.

"I'd do the same for you, Lily. If you ever need to talk, you know where I am." They reached the gargoyle; Lily stared at it in disbelief.

"He didn't give us the password," she exclaimed, "How are we supposed to talk to him?"

"Oh, don't worry. Ice Mice."

The gargoyle moved to reveal a swirling staircase. Lily stepped softly on in awe, but James just climbed up it as though he had seen something of the like a million times before. They reached the door of Professor Dumbledore's office and knocked several times. The door swung open of its own accord. James led Lily in. She gazed around in amazement at all of Dumbledore's instruments, but James went straight to Fawkes and petted the red phoenix. She was at her best stage, with a full coat of beautiful, deep red feathers. Soon Lily joined him in petting Fawkes.

"What's his name?" Lily asked curiously.

"Fawkes," James answered softly running his hand over the bird's head.

"How do you know him?" Lily asked James with inquiring eyes.

"Oh, my mum and Dumbledore are old friends, my dad was too." The sadness that Lily had become accustomed to seeing throughout the day crept into James' eyes again. "Plus, I've been up here more times than I can count," he added guiltily.

Lily smiled slightly and Professor Dumbledore entered the room. "James, Lily," he greeted. "Good to see you, have a seat." Lily and James both complied, sitting in front of Dumbledore's desk. "How have you two been?"

"Fine," Lily told the professor, smiling. They both looked at James, who shrugged yet again.

"Alright," he answered and didn't go into anymore detail, yet again.

Dumbledore looked concernedly at James but continued. Thirty information filled minutes later, Dumbledore wrapped up the meeting. "I think that's all. How does Thursday sound for our next prefects meeting?"

James ran through his mental calendar. "That sounds fine. Lily?"

"Fine."

"Alright, I'll meet with you two again at the beginning of October unless something important comes up. Miss Evans, you may leave, I'd just like a quick word with Mr. Potter."

Lily excused herself, but James stayed seated. As soon as the door clicked shut behind Lily, Professor Dumbledore leaned forward. "How have you really been, James?"

James hesitated. He didn't want to look weak in front of his headmaster, but he'd had no one to talk to ever since the attack. His mum and Sirius were both very fragile with the subject, and Remus already had enough problems. He needed to talk. "Not very well. Why?"

"I think you need to talk to someone."

"Yes, sir, I do. I'd be more comfortable talking to someone my age, though."

"Why not Mr. Black or Mr. Lupin, James?"

"Sirius is just as torn up about this as I am, and Mo—Remus, well, he has plenty of stuff on his mind."

"Miss Evans?"

"Lily?" James asked. "I don't know. I just started being on civil terms with her today."

"She cares, James. I could tell; I could see it in her eyes. Talk to Lily, she wants to listen and she wants to be the one to help you."

James nodded, "I'll definitely consider it, Professor."

"Ok, good. Well, you can go if you want."

James nodded and stood up. He paused as his hand was on the door. "Oh, and Professor, what are those things pulling the carriages."

"Sit back down, James."

James obeyed, walking back to his seat in front of Professor Dumbledore's desk. "They're thestrals. You can only see them if," James cut him off.

"You've seen death, I should have known. We learned about them in fifth year. That's what I was afraid of. They're just another reminder of this summer. How many other school activities are they at which we don't know about?"

"That's the only one."

"Good. Then I won't have to deal with any more reminders than I already have."

"James, I truly hope you have someone whom you'll talk with. You need someone to lean on."

"Thanks, Professor. Could I be excused now? I'm exhausted." In truth, James knew he wouldn't sleep, he hadn't slept since the attack, but that was beside the point. He needed to be excused from those penetrating blue eyes. James could tell that Professor Dumbledore knew he wouldn't get any rest, but he let James leave anyway.

James exited his Headmaster's office, and was disappointed that Lily hadn't waited for him. He had actually considered talking to her about the attack, but now he realized that he never should have believed that she would care. Why would she? She had never cared before this year, so why would she now? But then again, they had sworn to be friends. Weren't friends there for each other? But Lily wouldn't have had any indication that James needed a helping hand, after all he hadn't mentioned it and he had three great friends who he could have easily confided in.

Upset, more at himself than Lily, he snapped the password at the Fat Lady, who rolled her eyes at him. He stepped into the empty common room and again felt a twinge of disappointment. Lily wasn't in the common room, either. He slowly climbed the stairs to the boys' dormitory and entered it to greet the sight of a sleeping Remus, Peter and Andrew, and a staring Sirius. Sirius wasn't staring at him, but rather off at a blank piece of wall, his eyes glazed over. James knew that Sirius hadn't slept much since the attack, either. They were both still in a slight state of shock from the whole ordeal. "Hey," James said softly.

Sirius nodded slightly, his only acknowledgement of his best friend and his brother. James pulled off his uniform, stripping down to just his boxers, and climbed under the covers of his bed. He stared at the top of the four-poster. "Sirius?"

"Hmm," Sirius' answer was a one syllable one.

"Try to sleep, alright? I'm worried for the both of us. Neither of us has slept since it happened. I know it, Padfoot."

"I'll try, but I don't know what good it will do."

"Sirius, try. I think getting out of the house will do us both good. It held so many memories of him. While this place holds memories, far fewer have anything to do with him."

Sirius nodded, "Thanks, Prongs."

James turned over onto his side and drifted off into restless sleep.

* * *

The next morning Lily woke up fully refreshed and bounced out of bed, claiming the shower before any of her friends could. After she washed her hair and got out of the shower, she dressed in her school uniform. Then she began her toughest task yet: waking up her friends. She approached Olivia first. 

"Liv, Hun, you need to get up."

"Lils, five more minutes."

Lily grinned, an idea popping into her head. "Mags," she screeched, "you know it's Liv's turn to shower."

Olivia flew out of bed and into the bathroom. She was very protective of her chance to shower each and every morning. "Lilllllllllllllllly," she moaned, as soon as she realized that Maggie wasn't even out of bed. "I hate you."

Nevertheless, Lily heard the shower starting and grinned, turning to Morgan. "Morgie, up, up, up."

"Lemme wait," Morgan pulled her pillow over head and burrowed under her blankets. "I don't need to shower. I did last night while you were meeting with Dumbledore. So, you can go bother Maggie."

"Fine." Lily turned from Morgan's bed and crossed the room to Maggie's. "Margaret Correnti, up!"

"Soon, soon," Maggie's reaction mirrored those of Morgan and Olivia.

"Liv's out of the shower," Lily pointed out, as Olivia walked out of the bathroom, her school uniform neatly in place. Olivia grinned, shrugging into her robe. Although she was difficult to wake up, once she had showered Olivia was very cheerful.

"Lils has a point, Maggie," Olivia called, and Maggie staggered into the bathroom dragging her uniform behind her.

Lily shook her head and glanced at Olivia. "You should go meet Drew. You haven't seen him in ages."

Olivia grinned, "You'll get this slob out of bed?" she asked, motioning to Morgan.

"Oh, yeah, no problem, go ahead. I know you want to."

Olivia grinned again. "Alright, I'll see you later, ok?"

"Sure, just don't forget to get your schedule."

"Yep," Olivia bounced out of the room and down to the common room. Lily smiled and then turned to Morgan.

"Morgan, you really need to get up, it's 7:00." Morgan finally rolled out of her bed and began to get dressed. When they were all ready, they grabbed their bags and headed down to the common room.

They entered the common room and there stood James Potter and Sirius Black, looking the picture of indifferent coolness. James was leaning against the doorframe leading to the stairs to the boys' dormitory, his hands in his pockets and Sirius had his arms crossed in front of his chest. They were discussing something quietly and seriously, and Lily saw an intense fire burning in both of their eyes. She knew that their aura of coolness was just a mask. Something was clearly bothering both James and Sirius and she and Morgan could both tell. Maggie was too wrapped up in subtly staring at Sirius to realize that something very serious was going on. "Come on," Lily murmured to her friends, "let's get out of here. I'm hungry." The three girls left the room, glancing over their shoulders at James and Sirius one last time before making their way down to breakfast.

They were surprised to see Remus and Peter sitting at the Gryffindor table. Lily led her friends to sit down across from them. "Hey Remus, Peter," she greeted them, serving herself some toast. "Where are James and Black?"

"Weren't they in the common room?" Remus asked in response.

"Yeah, but why aren't they down here? They love to eat; I figured they're always the first ones down here."

"There's something going on with them. I don't even know the full of it, but whenever something happens to one of them it happens to the other, and they tell Remus, or at least me varying amounts of information," Peter explained, pushing his eggs around on his plate with his fork.

"Well, they must have told you something. What's going on?"

"I really can't tell you," Remus said in a pained voice. "I'm sorry, but if you've been keeping up with the news, then you should have at least an inkling of what's happening."

"I think I do," Lily smiled grimly. "Hopefully if James and I get closer, then he'll tell me."

Remus and Morgan both looked at her strangely, but neither commented on Lily's desire to get to know James, her sworn enemy. Remus turned away from his conversation with Lily and began to talk with Morgan, whom he was very close with. Olivia reached across Maggie for the eggs and spoke to Lily. "We need to talk later."

Lily nodded, knowing that whether she agreed or not, Olivia would force her into talking. She dug into her sausage and eggs as James and Sirius entered and James sat next to her and Sirius sat across from Maggie. "Morning, Lily," he greeted.

She smiled a tight-lipped smile at him, so as to keep the eggs she had just put in her mouth from falling out. James grinned at her attempt at being as polite as possible and asked her to pass the sausage, which she did as she swallowed her mouthful of eggs. James took the sausage from her hand and served some onto his plate, before Sirius asked him for it.

"So, Maggie," Sirius asked, trying to start a conversation with his newest conquest. "How'd you sleep?"

"Oh I slept ok. I'm a little tired, though, as you can probably tell my thoughts are else where." James snuck a glance at Sirius, who was gazing concernedly at Maggie. He snickered very quietly and nudged Lily underneath the table. "Look at Sirius," he whispered in her ear, his breath tickling her neck. "Do you think they have something?"

Lily grinned; she had been thinking the exact same thing. "Yes, Maggie's practically in love with him."

"Excellent, I think we have a job to do."

Lily grinned and looked over at Maggie and Sirius who were in the midst of an awkward silence. "They'll definitely need some help getting together," she told James, grinning back at him.

Just then, McGonagall moved up and down the table handing out timetables to her Gryffindors. When she reached James she said, "Potter, here's your time table. I suggest you reserve the pitch for try-outs right now so you have your choice of nights. You do get the priority because you're head boy so you have other commitments as well."

"Well, the try-out shouldn't be too long," he smiled at his transfiguration professor. "I'm just looking for a chaser to work with Morgan and me."

"Ok," Professor McGonagall continued to move down the table, handing out schedules.

Lily looked down at hers and then glanced to her right to James' to see which classes they had together. She saw that they had all the same classes and felt a sense of joy, that she knew she wouldn't have felt the year before. She knew James had changed for the better, but she had absolutely no idea how she felt about him. She would have to talk to her friends about that later. "James, what do you have first?"

"Double potions with the Ravenclaws, you?"

"Same, it's so good that we finally got the Ravenclaws, I was getting sick of the Slytherins. I guess McGonagall finally realized that Professor Dubois tortures us enough without his own house to favor too."

Lily discovered that Maggie, Sirius, James, Olivia, Remus, Morgan, Andrew and Peter were all in N.E.W.T. Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms and Potions. She and James also took N.E.W.T. Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Divination and History of Magic. Neither of them had any free periods, seeing as they were each taking eight classes. Remus and Sirius each took seven (they didn't take History of Magic), Olivia, Morgan, Andrew and Maggie took six (not joining the others in History of Magic or Divination) and Peter took five: Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms, Divination and Potions.

"This year's going to be tough," James breathed, looking over her shoulder at her schedule. "Very, very tough."

* * *

When he had said it, James had had no idea how true his prediction would be. Two weeks into term he and Lily were swamped with enough work for the entire wizarding world, never mind just the two of them. Between their eight classes, head students work, prefects' meetings, weekly meetings with the teachers, and working all of this around James' attempt to set up a Quidditch try-out both were exhausted. "Merlin," James moaned, sinking down in an armchair in the Gryffindor Common Room, and dropping his bag on his lap. "I've never had so much work to do in my life." 

It was 10 o'clock at night, and James and Lily had just returned from their meeting with the teachers, which had been scheduled for 9 o'clock because of James' seven o'clock Quidditch try-out, which had had about seventy Gryffindors at it. "Tell me about it," Lily collapsed on the couch across from him. They normally slept and worked in the Heads Dormitories. Because they had so much work, they felt like if they stayed in the Common Room they would get nothing done. But after two weeks of working their hardest, and with no end in sight, James and Lily were too tired to walk from Professor Dumbledore's office at the top of the castle to the Heads Dormitories which were located off the antechamber off the Great Hall. James glanced at Lily, "there is so much work. What do you say we get started?"

Just as they started to get their supplies out of their bags, they were pounced on by their energetic friends, who had much less work. "Jaaaaames," Sirius sang, arm around a slender blonde's waist, who must have been his fling of the week.

"Sirius," James greeted tiredly, looking up from the Transfiguration Essay on Animagus he had just begun. "What?"

"I have more work than I care to think about," Sirius said, "want to help?"

"Can't," James sighed, a miserable expression crossing his face. "If you think you have a lot of work, you haven't seen how much Lily and I have. Plus I need to schedule a meeting with the Quidditch Team to decide on our new chaser. How does Wednesday at 6 sound?"

"Can't," Lily said, not looking up from her essay. "Prefects' meeting."

"Wednesday at 9?" James tried.

"That's fine," Lily confirmed, and James sighed in relief.

"Wednesday at 9, locker room," he muttered to himself, noting it in his planner.

"Merlin," Sirius marveled, ignoring the girl next to him, who was beginning to look at little bit put-off at being ignored. "You're writing stuff down now?"

"Gotta," James had returned to his essay and Sirius was losing him fast. "Can't remember a thing, what with all the work I'm doing."

Sirius nodded and walked off with the blonde girl.

No more than five minutes later, Maggie walked over, followed by Remus and his girlfriend, Veronica Samuelson. She sat down next to Lily and glared across the common room at Sirius who was obviously flirting shamelessly, even from the distance that Maggie and Lily were at. "That girl is awful," she confided to Lily. "I hate her so much."

"Who is she?" Lily asked, glancing at the blonde and then looking back at her Transfiguration book.

"Ashley Little, sixth year Hufflepuff, complete idiot and ditz."

"Oh," Lily acknowledged Maggie's remarks, but didn't look up from her essay. "I'm sorry."

"Thanks," Maggie grimaced, but Lily didn't see it, already busy with her essay again. "Well, I'm not getting your attention, so I'll leave you to your work."

"Maggie, wait," Lily finally looked up. "I'm sorry. Work isn't more important than my friends. Do you want to talk?"

"Really, Lils," Maggie walked back toward Lily, James, Remus and Veronica. "It's ok. I know you're absolutely swamped with work, I'll talk with Liv."

"Are you sure? I feel like a terrible friend."

"Yes, its fine, Lils. You have ten times the work of any of us. Don't worry."

"Thanks, Mags." Maggie waved it off as she walked toward the stairs to the girls' dormitories and Lily returned to her transfiguration essay. When she had just finished, a familiar voice whispered in her ear. "Lils, hall, now."

Lily stood up and followed Morgan to the hall, registering that she was helping Morgan but hadn't helped Maggie earlier, and she felt awful. "What?"

"Remus is torturing me. Veronica is awful."

"You and Maggie should commiserate." Lily remarked, dryly. "She's upset over Ashley Little and you over Veronica Samuelson."

"Well, she is awful. Do you think Remus is happy with her?"

"Probably not. She's a snooty know-it-all, if you ask me. Don't tell Remus I said that."

"Has James said anything?" Morgan asked.

Lily smiled slightly at the irony of the situation. Normally, if any of the girls wanted to know anything about James Potter they'd ask one of the Quidditch players of the group, but now they were all turning to Lily, who was spending the most time with him by far. "Well?" Morgan prodded, shattering Lily's thoughts.

"No, not that I can remember. We don't really talk about those kinds of things, though. He's very loyal to his friends' secrets, so he really doesn't tell me much about his them."

"Alright," Morgan sighed, "well, you should go do your work." Lily and Morgan re-entered the common room, and Lily groaned for what felt like the hundredth time that night. The noise in the room must have escalated a hundred times with sixth and seventh years coming in because their 10:30 curfew had come around. Lily and James were allowed to be in the hall until midnight.

"James," Lily said, pulling James' attention from the last sentence of his Transfiguration paper. "It's really loud in here. Let's go to the heads' room. We can skip patrol tonight."

"Really?" James asked incredulously. When Lily nodded he continued, "Hang on I have to tell Morgan here something. Morgie!"

"Yes," Morgan turned around from her Remus-watching to face him.

"Quidditch meeting, Wednesday at 9, in the locker room. Does that work for you?"

"No, I have a date," Morgan called in a joking manner.

James grinned and said, "Alright, so Wednesday at 9. The only date you have that night is with me, Liv, Dylan, Johnny, and Ethan."

Morgan smiled, "alright."

James smiled slightly back, but couldn't help but notice the jealous look on Remus' face as he watched James flirt the slightest bit with Morgan. He decided he'd have to talk to Lily about it. "Oh and Morgie?" he yelled again.

"Tell Liv, would you? I haven't seen her all evening."

James glanced around the common room as Morgan answered. "I suppose I can do you that small favor."

James grinned and spotted Johnny, Dylan and Ethan sitting together and talking. He walked over to them. "Hey boys."

They all looked up and greeted him.

James continued, "I don't know if you all heard that, but Quidditch meeting in the locker room, Wednesday at 9." A look of concern crossed Dylan's face. He was a fifth year, and his curfew was 9 o'clock. "Don't worry, Dyl. I'll get permission from McGonagall. I was hoping to have it earlier, but there's a prefects' meeting at six, which I expect to see you at, John, and Dyl." Johnny and Ethan were sixth years and Johnny and Dylan were the Gryffindor prefects.

"Alright," Ethan answered for all three of them. "We'll be there."

"Have a nice time with Evans," Johnny called cheekily five minutes later as he left the common room for the Heads rooms with Lily.

"Watch yourself, Parker," James called over his shoulder as he exited.

Lily laughed. "You've got yourself a spirited team, don't you?"

"That's for sure, we're so loose, I'm sure McGonagall hates it, but I love my team to death."

"That's good."

"They're so much fun, Johnny is the cheekiest kid alive, but he's the best. Dylan is quiet, but he can pull a prank, together he and Liv make a killer prank team, they've gotten Sirius and me good a couple of times. Ethan is decisive, witty, quick and evasive, and obviously you know all the spirit that Liv and Morgan have got."

Lily smiled. "It sounds fun."

"Oh, it is," James assured her. "The sense of being united for a common goal, even if it is trivial, there's definitely some camaraderie involved."

"Come on," Lily said as they let themselves into the Great Hall, "we've got a ton of work to do."

They crossed the dark, cavernous room and made their way up to the antechamber behind the teachers' table, making sure to avoid any of the four house tables. James opened the door to the antechamber and held it for Lily. He followed her in and she made her way to another door, marked 'Heads' Room: Lily Evans and James Potter.' She whispered the password (Butterfly wings) and the door clicked open. James pushed it open and followed Lily in, waving his wand to turn on the lights. The room was illuminated. Their common room was a mini-version of the Gryffindor common room, with over-stuffed armchairs, a crackling fire and merry aura around it. Both of their bedrooms were elegant as well. They had king-size, four-poster beds and large rooms where all of their belongings were held. James and Lily hadn't started living in the Heads' rooms until the second week of school, because it was only then when Professor Dumbledore remembered to tell them about it.

James sat in an armchair and yawned before conjuring a table and beginning his schoolwork again. Around midnight James couldn't work any longer. He stuffed his books and papers back in his bag and shut his eyes tiredly, murmuring, "G'night, Lily."

Lily looked up and smiled slightly, a bit confused as to how he had finished all his work for the next day, which was a Tuesday containing: Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Potions and Transfiguration. "Did you finish your work?"

"Believe it or not," James muttered half-asleep, "Since we didn't have Arithmancy, Ancient Runes or Potions yesterday, I did the essays assigned Friday over the weekend. I only had to do Defense, Charms and Transfiguration today. You can take a look at my essays if you need to."

"Ok," Lily returned to her work and James drifted off into yet another restless sleep, right there on his armchair.

Around one in the morning, when Lily had just finished her final essay, an owl swooped into the common room. She took the letter off its leg and saw that it was addressed to James, not her. "James," she murmured, shaking him.

"What?" he sat up straight and stared around every muscle in his body tensing considerably. He seemed cautious, paranoid even.  
"It's ok. You just got a letter," Lily said softly, rubbing his back soothingly. Over the first couple of weeks of term, their friendship had blossomed. They spent a ton of time together and were on the verge of becoming best friends. They told each other everything, and they trusted each other indefinitely. James smiled slightly and took the offered letter.

_Dear James,_

_Hi! How are you? I'm alright, but Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall, Moody, the Healers and I have come to a decision, which the reading of your dearest father's will has brought about. Your father writes:_

'_If I am ever in a permanently impaired state, where I am unable to make decisions for myself and communicate them to my loved ones and am one any type of life support spells, then it is my wish to leave this world.'_

_Pertaining to your father's request- and the healer's have decided he is in a permanently impaired state- we have decided that we will be removing your father from the life support spells on Saturday, October 4. I have already spoken to Professor Dumbledore and you and Sirius will be taken out of school that day, so you can say good-bye to your father. The funeral has not yet been set, but it will obviously be at our church. Remember I will be there to talk to you and I don't mind if you talk to anyone in your year (obviously a friend). Do be mindful of how Sirius feels about this whole ordeal and don't pressure him to talk. I will see you on the 3 of October, after you finish the day's school. _

_Love,_

_Mum_

James swore under his breath. "No, no, no, no, no." He dropped his head into his hands and shook it uncontrollably. "No, why, Dad, why? Don't do this to me, Dad. Sirius and I need you. You're my best friend, you and Sirius. No, no, no, no."

Lily looked on sympathetically and watched as James sunk deeper and deeper into his misery. "Go ahead," James told her, seemingly sensing her thoughts. "You can read it." Lily obliged James' wishes, and slowly unwrapped James' fingers, which were clenched tightly around the now completely crumpled letter. She worked it slowly out of the ball it was squeezed into and began to read. It was worse than she had ever imagined. Poor James, she thought, and sat softly on the arm of the overstuffed chair he had chosen, and murmured quietly, "Do you want to talk?"

"It's not fair," James cried, not sure why he was pouring out everything he had kept inside since that fateful day in July. "Why him? He was the best auror in the history of the Ministry of Magic. Great aurors survive the toughest battles that they're in, and yet he dies in a little battle in the residential section of Diagon Alley. He didn't even manage to fully protect the little girl. She's dead too."

"He's not dead, yet," Lily reminded James softly. "You still get to say good-bye."

"I know, but the letter makes it real. Before the letter, it still seemed like it never happened, but it really did, didn't it?"

"Yeah, James," Lily told him softly, not knowing what else to say.

James didn't seem to hear her, however. "He was the best dad ever. He always had a ton of work, to this day I don't know how he did it, but he did. Even with all his work, he always found time to play with me, do all the normal things Wizarding fathers do with their little boys. Teach them how to fly, how to treat the family house elves, whatever. Whenever there was something to teach me, he was always there to do it, no matter how busy he was. Same thing with Sirius. Dad always managed to help Sirius whenever he needed it. He was so supportive when Sirius ran away from his house last summer, and he's always been the father figure Sirius never truly had. Sirius' dad is a Death Eater and an alcoholic.

"Which brings me to yet another completely unfair thing: how come people like that, Death Eaters who beat their sons to no end, men who can't even manage to stay with their wives, boyfriends who can't bear the idea of supporting their girlfriends who they got pregnant, out of wedlock, murderers, rapists, people who commit capital crimes, how come they live, yet people like my dad, a great guy, welcoming to everyone, never hurt a fly, are tortured to insanity and then are killed because they are irreparably damaged and unable to live without spells, and it's their wish to die. Why is that fair, Lily?"

"Oh, James," Lily sighed, half-heartedly. She rubbed his hand comfortingly. "I just don't understand any better than you, I'm so sorry."

"Thanks," James sighed. "I wonder if my Mum wrote Sirius."

As though an answer to his question, a muffled knock came from the distance. "James, are you in there?"

Lily smiled, "how'd he ever get into the Great Hall?"

"I don't know, but he's certainly locked out of the antechamber. I locked that after myself. I'll go let him in."

"I'm going to go to bed. If you need anything just yell."

"Alright." Lily began walking away from James' side. He reached out and caught her hand.

"Wait. I just wanted to thank you. I needed to talk to someone. You were a huge help to me."

"I'll always listen, James," Lily said softly, reaching out and touching James' cheek softly.

"Me too, Lily," James looked her directly in the eye. The muffled knock came again. "I'd better go let him in. G'night."

Lily smiled weakly and walked toward her room. She let herself in and heard the door to the Heads' Common Room squeak open and Sirius say, "I am so sorry, mate," before she shut her door, and made her way into the bathroom.

* * *

It's not fair, Lily thought, fifteen minutes later, as warm water washed over her and she stared blankly at the white wall of the shower. Why does Mr. Potter deserve this? James and his family don't deserve this suffering. I wonder how much family he has. Lily grimaced, if it was the rumors she had heard were true, then there probably wasn't much of a Potter family left. Lily smiled slightly; Mariana Potter was brave to marry into the family. Lily grimaced; she wondered if Mrs. Potter's parents had been targeted as well. She then laughed slightly, realizing she had no idea whether the Potter family was actually targeted or not. 

James let Sirius into the Heads' Common Room, and the first thing his best friend said was, "I am so sorry, mate," and pulled James into a brotherly hug. James clung to him, not caring that they were both 17-year-old boys, who weren't supposed to show any extreme emotion. They were brothers going through the hardest of times.

James pulled away, "Sirius, remember yourself. I know he was important in your life too."

Sirius grimaced, "only because my family could drop dead tomorrow and I wouldn't give a damn."

"That's not true," James told him.

"Well, I wouldn't care about my parents. I'd only worry about Andromeda and Regulus."

An owl tapped impatiently at the window and James went to let it in. He read the attached letter out loud to Sirius.

_Dearest James and Sirius,_

_Upon further inspection of your father's will, Albus, Minerva and I found that your father has made specific requests for who says the eulogies at his funeral. Pertaining to his request, I would be honored if you two, and a fellow auror in the office would all write one. _

_With my love,_

_Mum_

Sirius sighed. "Does she honestly think we'd say no?" Without waiting for James' reply he continued, "We'd better write back to make sure she knows we'll be saying one."

James nodded, already thinking about what he would say. It was going to be one of the most difficult things he'd ever done.

Sirius grabbed a quill and writing on the back of Mrs. Potter's letter. He attached it to the owl, which then flew back off into the night. Sirius looked at James. "Are you OK? You're obviously trying to be strong, but you know you don't have to be."

James' gaze flickered to the door of Lily's room and then back to Sirius. He lowered his voice to a whisper. "No, I broke down in front of Lily. It was really embarrassing. She was really nice though."

Sirius laughed the slightest bit, though they both failed to see the humor in the situation. "That's good. You needed to talk to someone. The only advice I can give is to always be there for her now, if she ever needs an ear."

James and Sirius talked late into the night, mostly reminiscing about their memories with Mr. Potter. Finally around 3 o'clock that morning Sirius fell asleep on the couch. As James was heading toward his room, he heard Lily call out to him.

"I couldn't sleep, because, well, I know this might be a little weird, since we just became friends and all, but, I don't want to impose or anything, but I was wondering if I could maybe come to your father's funeral? I've always respected him," she was rambling but couldn't stop, wondering why she felt like she had to prove her good intentions to James. "He was such a great auror and—"

"Lily, stop." James interrupted her, laying a hand on her shoulder. "You don't need to justify yourself. I was wondering if you would come actually. That is, if you'd feel comfortable. It would just be me, you and Sirius. We'll have to ask Dumbledore."

"Alright."

"Thanks, Lily. For coming and all," James hesitated. "It means a lot to me and to my dad too. Obviously he won't know, but to his memory."

Lily smiled at James and hurried up to her dormitory, wondering why she suddenly got so nervous around James Potter, who had never made her the slightest bit nervous before.

James went up to his dormitory a while later. James collapsed onto his bed and sunk his face into his pillow. He thought idly about funeral arrangements and what he would say in his eulogy, but none of it seemed to truly matter. His father had been such a big part of his life and these sadistic men, with no purpose in life other than to terrorize innocent people or protesters, had taken something so precious, so rare from his father.

How could these men just steal life from innocent people for fun? It really was sick. Didn't they realize how incredibly precious something like life truly was? It made James want to throw up. Sure, his father had been a protester of Voldemort's actions, but that didn't make his life any less important or precious than an innocent bystander's. James sighed and turned over in his bed. How could this happen to him? It wasn't fair. James vowed then and there that when he graduated from school, he would do something, anything to thwart Voldemort's plans.

* * *

The next day was torture for James and Sirius. They spent breakfast surrounded by their friends. Lily, Olivia, Morgan, Maggie, Remus, Peter and Andrew were all huddled together with James and Sirius over several different newspapers and tabloids. James held them in one shaking hand, looking around at his family. "You guys ready?" he asked, fingering the string keeping _The Daily Prophet_ rolled up. 

Sirius spoke for all of them. "Well, we have to read it sometime."

_**DECISION MADE**_

_Top-notch Auror to be removed from life support, per his request through his will, on October 4, surrounded by family._

_By Gaylord Harrison_

_LONDON- As they went through his belongings, hoping to find some clue as to how to deal with this situation, so new to the Wizarding World, the committee making decisions about Harold Potter's future came across an important document: Harold Potter's will. The will stated that if Potter were ever in an irreversibly impaired state, to end his life. _

_And the Potters will do just that. On October 4, the most respectable family in the wizarding world will gather in Potter's room at St. Mungo's and end Potter's life. According to a statement by Mrs. Mariana Potter, the entire family will be there. "Harold has specifically requested by way of his will, for his life to be ended, and my family and I have decided it's only fair to follow his wishes. The entire family will be present on October 4, and we will make this ordeal as easy as possible. I can assure you his death will be quick and painless."_

_The funeral is already being planned and will take place on October 7 at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, a Catholic church where the Potters are regular parishioners. A source close to the Potter family said there will be eulogies by, a co-worker of his at the Ministry of Magic, his son, James, 17, and family friend Sirius Black, 17. Potter will be buried in the Holy Trinity Church's graveyard, Evergreen Cemetery, just blocks from Holy Trinity, which is a muggle church. Mrs. Potter said the funeral will be open to the public, but according to Alastor Moody, who has been appointed Head of Auror Department since Mr. Potter's injury, security will be very tight. The service will be conducted in a muggle manner, because the family expects both muggles and wizards to be in attendance._

_--September 27, 1976_

James sighed and looked around at his family. "Today's going to be tough," he told them. "No doubt the Slytherins will have something to say. Anyway," James continued, "I need to get going to class. Come on Sirius."

The two boys bid good-bye to their friends and hurried to class. They had Transfiguration first, and they entered energetically. James and Sirius had both surprisingly gotten sleep, even after the alarming news. When James and Sirius had expressed their thoughts to Lily in the Heads' Common Room that morning she said that the decision was a sign of closure on the situation and that made it easier for James and Sirius to accept, and therefore easier for them to sleep.

James slipped into his seat with Sirius next to him. As the beginning of the period came closer and closer, their friends filed in. Lily seated herself on the other side of James and everyone else sat around them. Lily wasn't surprised to see that Maggie sat next to Sirius. The Slytherins in the N.E.W.T. class came in after the Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, and they sneered at James and Sirius as they entered. "Potter, you should have known that your father wouldn't last in the end," Lucius Malfoy smirked at James, "And you, Black," he continued, turning on Sirius, "There's still time for you to redeem yourself. The Dark Lord could forgive you yet for your ignorance in this matter. Clearly, you can see the stronger side. Unfortunately, Potter, there is no standing invitation for a Mudblood lover to join such prestigious ranks."

Lily reached across the distance between her desk and James' and laid her hand on his arm. "Don't James," she murmured. "It's not worth it."

"Ooh, look," Malfoy sneered, now safely in his seat between Bellatrix Black and Rodolphus Lestrange. "Potter's girlfriend is controlling him. How sweet." Malfoy's tone changed in a second. "His Mudblood girlfriend," he added.

"How's Daddy?" Sirius asked, finally retaliating.

Malfoy smirked yet again. "Fine, and his ego's really gotten a boost now, after all, we all know who finally got the _great _Harold Potter."

"Care to divulge the information, Mr. Malfoy for those of us who are not on the inside loop?" Professor McGonagall asked sternly, sweeping into the room just in time to hear Malfoy's final remark.

"N-no, ma'am."

"Alright, then I suggest you keep your remarks about your classmate's father to yourself. I trust you've heard of what's happened to Mr. Potter's father?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Well, then, I expected more out of you Mr. Malfoy," her expression didn't exactly back up that sentiment, "you should be supporting your Head Boy in his time of need, instead of mocking him. Detention, every night this week at 7."

"But, Professor—"

Professor McGonagall cut him off. "No, Mr. Malfoy, don't argue. Consider yourself lucky that Mr. Potter hasn't already given you detention, because as Head Boy he has that power. Now let's begin our lesson."

James and Sirius both let out a sigh of relief, and exchanged a glance. Their day was already awful. Professor McGonagall began to speak. The lesson passed incredibly slowly for both James and Sirius. They were impatient, and wanted everything to happen quickly so they could finally talk to Mrs. Potter. The class and the day passed slower than James could imagine. He was more fidgety than ever before and he could not pay attention to a word the teachers were saying. He noticed that Lily kept glancing at him worriedly, but even that didn't pique his interest.

After his last class of the day, James hurried out to the Quidditch pitch to fly around. He knew that flying would clear his mind like it always did. James dug his broom out of the heap in the Gryffindor locker room and brought it outside. He kicked off and began to coast through the air. He loved the feeling of the wind against his face and through his hair, and the view of the Forbidden Forest, just treetop following treetop as far as he could see. These feelings and views always helped James to think more clearly. James turned his broom to the left and he began to fly towards the Whomping Willow. This was James' favorite flying exercise. He would fly between the branches, trying to dodge them. It certainly wasn't the safest of activities, but it improved his flying skills every time he tried it.

A half an hour or so later, James turned his broom away from the violent tree, exhausted from trying to avoid its flying branches. He flew back toward the Quidditch Pitch, and noticed Lily standing on the grass in the middle of the pitch waiting for him. James landed next to her and smiled. "Hey, Lily."

"Where have you been James?" she snapped worriedly. "The guys have been worried sick about you."

James smiled slightly again. Flying really did help to clear his mind and calm him down. "They couldn't have been that worried. They had their ways of finding me if they wanted to."

"Really?" Lily asked skeptically. "And how exactly would they have found you?"

"Marauders' secret. I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you."

Lily laughed. "Keep your secrets, James. We do need to talk about a couple head things, though."

"Alright," James said, making his way towards the locker room and tossing his broom inside. He reemerged and smiled. "What do we need to talk about?"

"You seem cheerful. What happened?"

"I flew," James answered. "Flying always clears my mind. But you're changing the subject. What do we need to talk about?"

"Fine, fine, I'm trying to procrastinate. You know that. Anyway, we need to set up patrols for the year."

"Do they rotate patrol partners, or do they switch part way through the year?" James asked.

"Either way. I think we should just leave them with the same partners all year. We'll pair fifth years with seventh years of the same house, and the same gender. Does that sound okay?"

"Fine," they had reached the Heads' common room. James drew out a piece of paper. He scribbled names on it. "What will we do with the sixth years then?"

"They'll patrol together, but not with people from their house."

James wrote again. "In that case it will be: Remus and Dylan Finch, Patricia Parkinson and Zera Phelps and Johnny Parker and Rodolphus Lestrange on Mondays." James continued to write with Lily reading over his shoulder and occasionally making adjustments to his pairings. "No, that won't work. You'll have to put the Hufflepuff fifth and sixth year girls together. No, that's not right either. It'll have to be the Hufflepuff fifth and seventh year girls; it's alright that they're sisters."

"Can't we put Slytherins with Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs with Gryffindors? I don't really feel comfortable have Johnny with Lestrange." James' eyes scanned the parchment for any pairings he disliked.

Lily sighed. "I guess it would make equal sense to pair Slytherins and Ravenclaws, after all, the Slytherins would be less likely to hurt the Ravenclaws and the Ravenclaws are smart enough to defend themselves if need be. Just don't tell anyone we changed the pairings because we don't trust the Slytherins."

"Don't worry," James said. "I won't. It just doesn't make me comfortable to leave my Quidditch players all alone with Slytherins."

"I can understand," Lily told him, sympathetically. "The change is fine."

"Thanks. Is there anything else we need to work on in order to prepare for the meeting tomorrow?"

"No, I'm heading for bed. Good night."

Just after 6 o'clock the next evening James stepped into the prefects' lounge, Lily immediately behind him. Apologetically, he smiled. "Sorry we're late; we just had a few arrangements to make before we spoke to you."

Lily picked up their speech, "There are very few things we need to talk about tonight. James and I will just tell you what we need to tell you and then it will be an open-ended discussion. You'll just tell us what students have been telling you."

"First, however, you should consider yourselves lucky. I know I've never been a prefect before but Remus has been, and he's had to patrol since the first night of school the past two years. Lily and I haven't been able to get the patrols put together since I've had a bad couple of weeks—"

"I should say so. May the most powerful side win," shouted Sirius' cousin, Bellatrix Black.

"Thank you for your input, Black," James continued coolly. "As I was saying, we just got patrols put together, and each of you will be paired with the same person for the entire year. Lily and I, as head boy and girl, will patrol together. Other patrol assignments along with patrol nights are posted on the back bulletin board. We won't change your patrol partners, so don't bother to ask."

Dylan Finch raised his hand. "Who will I be patrolling with?" he asked nervously.

James smiled. "Remus Lupin, Dyl. He's one of my best friends. Don't worry, he's great." James pointed to him and smiled again. "Remus, be nice. Dylan here is an instrumental part of my team this year."

Remus grinned. "I'll try my best."

"Don't worry," Lily said. "Remus doesn't bite, Dylan."

James inwardly cringed and watched Snape's reaction closely. After Snape had learned about Remus from Sirius the previous year, they all had been very cautious to make sure nothing reminded Snape of Remus' condition. Remus smiled weakly at Lily, who immediately realized what she had said, and wished she could take it back.

"Anyway," James continued, steering the conversation away from any potentially dangerous waters. "Does anyone have an idea for the first Hogsmeade weekend?"

Lily spoke up. "The head boy last year claimed it was tradition to have it on Halloween. Last year Professor Dumbledore gave us the day off from school and we got to go to Hogsmeade during the day and that night was the Halloween feast. We should ask him at our next meeting with him whether he'll let us do that, James."

James nodded his agreement, his mind already elsewhere. He had so many things to do and was already thinking about his Quidditch meeting. No more than 10 minutes later, Lily said, "Alright, we're done. James, do you have anything else to say?"

"Yeah, Finch, can you stay behind for just a second? I just have a quick question to ask you."

Dylan nodded and everyone else, including Lily filed out. "So," Dylan teased as he walked toward James, all of his previous nerves out the window, "are you going to claim Lily before I can grab her?"

"Oh, you'd better not touch her," James threatened. Ever since Dylan's second year and Johnny's third, the year they had joined the team, they had heard all of James' girl troubles, thrilled to listen because James was the coolest guy in the school and the most popular.

"I wouldn't dare," Dylan promised. "Anyway, what did you need me for?"

"We have to go see McGonagall so you can get curfew permission."

Later that night, after the prefects' meeting, James hurried down to the locker room to meet with his Quidditch Team. He barreled into the locker room to see his entire team seated there. "Well," he said, rubbing his hands together to warm them up from the cool nighttime breeze. "What did you all think?"

"You mean you want our in-put?" Morgan laughed. "Derek and Kate never did. You know that."

"I know that. This is your team, too. You deserve at least minimal in-put."

Johnny, Ethan, Anna and Dylan laughed at the last remark, but Morgan rolled her eyes in a fashion that reminded him strongly of Lily. "Morgan, you look like Lily when you do that. Where is Olivia? I told you to tell her 9 o'clock sharp." James glared at Morgan.

"I did," she snapped defensively. "I told her not to go see Drew tonight, because I knew she'd get caught up, but she ignored me. She said that I under-estimated her self control and stormed off."

"I'll get Drew later," James muttered under his breath. "Alright, we'll have to start without Liv then. This doesn't affect her that much anyway. We're selecting a chaser, aren't we?" James seemed to be trying to convince himself more than his team.

"Come on James," Morgan pleaded. "Lils will kill all three of us if you're late for your patrol. You don't want her to kill you know, just when you're getting her to like you do you?"

The entire team laughed as James blushed a deep red. "Ok, fine. Well, which ones did you like then, Morgan?"

Johnny made his opinion known. "I don't think we should take someone too young, like a second year. Dyl is young enough to train someone, and keep up the legacy I think that we should take third year."

"That's a good point, but I'm wary of taking a fifth or sixth year, because the team will be screwed in a couple years, after your class graduates, Dyl. I want to have one holdover after you graduate who was on the team with James, Liv and I," Morgan said.

"What about me?" The door flew open and Olivia stood in the doorway, staring into the room.

"Liv!" James exclaimed. "How nice of you to join us," he commented as she sat down. "Please, sit down."

Olivia grinned sarcastically and turned her attention to James. "So, what'd I miss?"

"Not much. We decided to take a third or fourth year because we want the legacy to continue."

"Well, you shouldn't have started without me. That wasn't nice. I have one of the best perspectives in finding a chaser, considering they shot on me."

"And, tell me, Liv. How is Drew doing? I didn't have much of a chance to speak to him today."

"I don't know I haven't spoken to him lately."

James laughed a loud and full laugh. "Oh, I forgot. Well, then, the more appropriate question may be how was your snog? Was it nice?"

Olivia blushed. "Very nice, thanks. Clarice Stevens is a very good chaser."

"She's in my year, too old," Johnny pointed out. "Anyway, you're just trying to change the subject, aren't you?"

Olivia blushed again, but James saved her. "Liv_ is_ changing the subject, but we need to get down to work. Who did you guys like?"

"I liked Chelsea Brown, personally," Ethan said.

"She's your girlfriend," Johnny laughed. "She's a fifth year, anyway. That's too old."

"Fine," Ethan sulked.

"I liked Bridget McEnberg, James."

"She was good, too. That's a good one, Morgie," Olivia agreed. "James, Bridget was really good, and she's a third year, so she's nice and young."

James grinned. "Did you all like Bridget?"

Johnny and Dylan agreed quickly, and Ethan huffily consented. "Ok, I'll tell her tomorrow," James said, "and I'll let you know what time our first full team practice is."

* * *

All too soon, in everyone's opinion (except the Slytherins, of course), Friday October 6, 1976 came too quickly and after he finished with the day's transfiguration lesson James got the bag he had prepared and made his way down to the Entrance Hall with Sirius in companionable silence. As they made their way down the busy halls trying to move against the throngs of people moving away from the Great Hall, there were many people already offering condolences. It was very overwhelming to James. 

He, Lily and Sirius would be leaving Hogwarts as soon as they met in the Entrance Hall. When he got there with Sirius, he was surprised to see Lily there almost ten minutes early.

The three of them would be staying in a muggle hotel in London, called the Westin Hotel. They would stay together in the same room.

"Ready to go?" James asked Lily. She nodded, and the three set off out the great oak doors and down the lawn.

"We're taking the Knight Bus," James informed Sirius and Lily. They nodded and James fell into step next to Lily behind Sirius.

James smiled at Lily. "So, I didn't get much of a chance to speak with you today. How are you?"

Lily smiled ever so slightly. "I'm fine. But I'm worried about you. You're about to go through one of the hardest ordeals of your life. Are you OK?"

"Ok, I guess. I'm nervous. What's it going to be like without my Dad? I really don't know what I'm going to do without him. I'm so scared and so nervous, Lil. How do I actually know that I'm going to be alright, what if I can't go on without him? I know I manage to live without Liz, but this is my dad we're talking about Lil. I don't know if I can do it. How am I supposed to be able to do it?"

"I know you can," Lily told him emphatically looking deeply into his hazel eyes, brushing aside her confusion about James' incident with 'Liz.' "I know you can. You're so strong, Liv and Morgan told me how much you went through with Liz, and I know you can do it again."

"Dyl helped me tons with Liz's death though. They were the same year. I don't know how I would have gotten through Liz's death without Dyl and Sirius."

"I don't see what's different this time," Lily countered, desperately hoping she was helping James. "What year was it when Liz died?"

James, slightly hurt that Lily didn't remember, answered, "Sixth, last year."

"Last year you had your entire Quidditch team, Sirius, Remus and Peter, and Maggie. There's no difference this time. You have your family, friends, team, and me, who you didn't have last time, to support you. You are so incredibly strong, and you'll get through this."

'Thanks, Lil," James smiled, thankful once again for his new, but very strong friendship with Lily. "You're a great, great, great friend. I've told you that before haven't I?"

"I think so, but I take compliments more than once."

James grinned, "Good, I don't handle rejection well." (-Remus Lupin, _The Potter Legacy: The Story of Lily and James. _Chapter 17, Happily Ever After). Lily and James both laughed.

They reached the outskirts of the Hogwarts grounds and Sirius turned around and laughed. "What did you two do? Stop and make out underneath that giant oak next to the lake? I've been here for ages."

James grinned widely, and threw Lily a slightly suggestive glance, "I wish."

Lily laughed appreciatively, instead of what Sirius was expecting: an explosion to rival that of a particularly nasty volcano. While Sirius carefully examined Lily, James threw up his wand hand and the Knight Bus appeared with an especially large 'BANG!' "'Ello and welcome to the Knight Bus. My name is Stan Shunpike and I'll be the conductor tonight. James, how have ya been, mate? Saw the stuff about your father in the papers. Sorry, 'bout that. Is that where ya are headed?"

"Yeah," James said with some sadness, digging some gold out of his pocket. "Here you go. Keep the change. By the way, how is your son doing?"

"Oh, great. Sweet little thing, he is. Little Stan, Jr. is doin' great. I was so flattered when Maria suggested we name him after me I couldn't turn it down," Stan grinned around at them all and stuffed James' gold into his pocket while accepting Lily's in his other hand. James and Lily got onto the bus and were directed to the top floor of the violently purple triple decker. Because it was late afternoon, the beds on the night bus were already in place. James sat down on one, and motioned for Lily to join him. She sat comfortably next to him and yawned. "Tomorrow's going to be a long day, Lil. Get some sleep now."

Sleepily she nodded and leaned her head away from James as Sirius joined them.

James sat on a different bed and lay down to get some sleep, as did Sirius.

Much later, although they were still on the bus, Lily woke and looked around to see both James and Sirius sound asleep. She focused her gaze on James and contemplated her strong feelings for him. He had certainly changed since the beginning of the year, but Lily hated taking risks and did not want to set herself up for failure by believing in him. The more she thought about it, though, the more obvious it became: she already trusted James Potter. Unconsciously, over the past month, she had left behind Olivia, Maggie and Morgan and James had become her best friend and confidant. Now, she realized she was ready to take the risk. She wanted James Potter to ask her out again. And if he did...


	3. Pain and Healing

**Chapter 3- Harsh Reality**

Author's Note: I have a couple things to say. First, with the last chapter, I still had a ton of hits and very few reviews, so if you have the chance, please review. I understand that not everyone who reads will review but please try to. Second, thanks to everyone who reviewed Chapter 2, your encouragement means a lot. I'm sorry that this took so long to post, but I've been swamped this week in school trying to finish everything before February break, but I have next week off, so I should be able to update more. I made a mistake: I have Bill Weasley starting his first year in this story when he's supposed to be born in 1970. Since this story takes place in Lily and James' seventh year (1978-1979), he's only nine and not yet old enough to start Hogwarts. If we see him again in the story (I'm not sure if we will) then he will be the proper age assuming he was born in 1970. Lastly, I'm sorry this took so long, but I had a lot of trouble writing this chapter. I just wasn't pleased with the way I wrote it at first so it took a couple tries. Then there was a lot of wind and the power went out while I was writing and I lost a lot work. Also, the Olympics have been on and I love them! Please bear with me. I hope to update with in a few days! Thanks!

Much later that night, long after they had arrived at the hotel, James, Sirius and Lily let themselves into their room. The room was very warm and welcoming, with three very soft and comfortable looking beds, and large TV, an enormous bathroom and a small balcony overlooking a river. Lily stepped onto the balcony while James collapsed on a bed and sighed. "Wow, it's comfortable," he called to her, out on the balcony. "I could fall asleep right here."

Sirius laughed and jumped on the bed next to him. "Come on," he shouted to Lily. "Let's have a pillow fight."

Lily turned and looked at him strangely. "I'm going to pass on the pillow fight thanks. James, come out here and look at the view."

James slowly stood up and made his way toward the sliding door out to the balcony. He stepped out onto the small balcony next to her and looked over the side. He smiled slightly. Lily was right; the view was nice. James couldn't muster the same enthusiasm for the view as Lily could. He was too focused on his grief and dread of the following day. Lily, being the sensitive girl that she was, noticed this immediately and turned to him. He leaned against the balcony and she leaned next to him. "Are you OK?"

"Not really," James admitted weakly, avoiding Lily's eye and tapping his fingers against the rail.

"Well, what's wrong?" Lily asked, knowing this was a stupid question, but also a completely necessary one.

"I think you know perfectly well what's wrong," James said, looking her in the eye with a hard glare to match his tone of voice.

"I don't know that I do," Lily said softly, countering James' glare with a friendlier one of her own.

"You know, Evans," James snapped, still glaring at her in the eye. "Maybe rooming with you wasn't such a good idea."

"Oh, I think it was," Lily said, matching James word for word.

"Really?" James asked, sitting up now.

"Really," Lily affirmed. "James, tell me how you feel right now. Tell me what is making you yell at me and treat me so badly right now. Will you tell me, James? Because I want to listen."

This reminded James of something Professor Dumbledore had said to him at the beginning of term. "_She wants to listen and she wants to be the one to help you." _He remembered what Lily said, too, "_James, if you ever need to talk I'll listen...That's what friends are for isn't it?"_ Well, he did need to talk.

"Fine," James mumbled. "Fine, and Lil, I'm sorry."

"It's alright," Lily shrugged it off. "Do you want to talk?"

"Not particularly." James began, but continued anyway. "I just don't know what it'll be like without my dad and that scares me more than anything. It's a question of how am I supposed to go on without someone who has been the one person I could depend on for everything, for my entire life?"

"It must be scary," Lily agreed sympathetically. "But we all die. Whether it's tomorrow like your dad or in ten, twenty, thirty years is relevant, but at the same time it's not exactly, if that makes any sense at all.

"But, I guess the point I'm trying to make is, while he is going to die, someday so are you, so you will see him again at some point, and until then you have his legacy and your memories of him to remember. He can live on through you if you let him, if _you _continue to live after his death."

James smiled ever so slightly, "Thanks, Lil. That really helped."

Lily smiled back. They stood there for several seconds in an awkward silence, looking into one another's eyes until Sirius shouted, "Hey, you two lovebirds, get back in here. I'm getting lonely."

Lily laughed, blushed and hurried back into the room. Seconds later James followed. Sirius chuckled again, "Lily here is embarrassed to be associated with you, James."

James laughed and glanced at Lily, "Why am I so embarrassing?"

Lily muttered something under her breath and hurried into the bathroom, her face matching her flaming hair.

Sirius rolled over on his bed to face James, who was still standing facing the bathroom. "She's growing on me," he announced. "It's not like we're about to confess our greatest secrets to each other or anything, but I can actually stand her. She's not as bad as I thought she was."

As she listened through the bathroom door to James and Sirius' conversation, Lily smiled slightly. James continued, "Well, that's a good thing, I suppose. If she actually says yes when I ask her out soon, then it'll definitely be a good thing if you like her."

Lily smiled. She was thrilled that James was going to ask her out again. And this time she knew her answer would be different. With that thought in her mind, she busied herself preparing to go to bed.

Almost 15 minutes later when she was through washing her face and brushing her teeth and hair, Lily returned from the bathroom. James was shirtless and curled up on the middle bed, fast asleep and Sirius was sleeping as well. She smiled. They really were sweet boys.

Lily lay down in bed and stayed awake for much longer, thinking about James' situation, and how well he was handling it. Between the notoriety of his father and all the paper printings about the death, James was handling the experience very well. Just as she was rolling over to go to sleep herself, Lily heard a cry from James' bed. Sitting up and listening carefully, Lily heard James talking quietly. "No, please, Mum. Don't make me. No, Mum, I can't."

James rolled over in his sleep and stopped thrashing around. Even so, Lily stayed awake the rest of the night to keep a close eye on him in case anymore nightmares took over his sleep.

Sirius woke up to a loud ring in his room at 7 AM the next morning and looked around shocked. He looked around and wondered where exactly the shrill noise was coming from. He located the source of the noise and carefully tiptoed toward it, wand drawn. The ringing stopped and a red light began to flash. Startled and afraid, Sirius aimed his wand and whispered a reductor curse. The red beam hit it and the phone smashed into a million little pieces. Frightened by the unusual object and by the damage he had done, Sirius quickly shook James awake.

Groggily, James sat up and placed his glasses on his nose. "Yeah?" he asked.

A sheepish look appeared on Sirius' face as James looked around and noticed the millions of pieces of plastic all around the room. Already recognizing this as a bad sign, James groaned wearily and turned to wake up Lily.

Lily sat up, rubbed her eyes and glanced at the clock. "Oh, it's already seven?" she asked quietly, in what could only be called an early morning voice.

James nodded his consent and then opened his mouth to speak. However, he was cut off by an urgent rapping on the door. "Take your wand, Padfoot," James warned before turning to Lily and explaining Sirius' incident with the telephone to her.

"Prongs, it's just your mum," Sirius laughed after he opened the hotel door cautiously. James stood and walked toward the door and his mother. As she came into view, he had to hold back a gasp. She looked _old. _The stress of the previous months had taken an unbelievable physical toll on her. It had taken James a month away from his mother to notice it, but she was not the same. He hadn't expected her to be, of course, but still the shock was outstanding. In one glance at Sirius's equally shocked face, James knew that they both saw it.

"Mum," he said in a carefully restrained voice. He pulled her into a hug. "Are you okay?"

Mrs. Potter collapsed against James, thankful to be in the arms of someone she loved. "Oh, James, it's so good to see you. I've missed you."

James frowned at Sirius over his mother's head. Had she always been so clingy and needy, or was this new found enthusiasm at seeing him a result of his father's current condition? Sirius shrugged at him, clearly just as lost as he was. Seconds later Mrs. Potter pulled back from her son and hurriedly wiped at her eyes, as though she were hoping that James and Sirius wouldn't notice. It was then that she noticed Lily. Jumping back in surprise, Mrs. Potter quickly recovered and strode across the room to the bed Lily was sitting on. James followed her as Lily climbed off the bed. "Mum, this is my friend and the Hogwarts Head Girl, Lily Evans. Lily, this is my mum, Mariana Potter."

"Are you really muggle-born? James mentioned that you were, I believe."

Cautiously, Lily nodded in agreement. Sensing her discomfort, Mrs. Potter quickly backtracked. "Not that it matters to me, of course. I give nothing to the purity of blood. It has nothing. When I went to Hogwarts my best friend, Kim, was muggle-born. I think it's great that Professor Dumbledore has put a muggle-born in such high authority in the turbulent times in our world. The purity of blood issue is so controversial."

Lily smiled, trusting James mother. "I know. It was nice to meet you, Mrs. Potter. I'd love to chat more, but I'm going to take a shower and get ready."

"That's fine, Lily. All of us need to be prepared. We leave at 8:30." Mrs. Potter threw a pointed look in the directions of James and Sirius. Lily laughed appreciatively and headed into the bathroom.

James watched her go in and then turned back to his mother and Sirius. She looked at him with compassion in her eyes. "James," she said, "I'm sorry for going to pieces on you like that. I shouldn't have. This is as hard for you as it is for me. You're only 17; you shouldn't have to deal with my sadness on top of yours."

James smiled without pleasure. "Thanks, I guess, Mum. But, as we can all tell, this war is going to get worse before it gets better, and I'll have to deal with more people close to me suffering and even passing away, so now is as good a time as any to learn all about it." He exchanged a pessimistic look with Sirius, knowing that they shared the same sentiment about the beginning of what was sure to be a reign of terror on Voldemort's part.

At nine o'clock that morning they reached the hospital which was only a short walking distance from their hotel. They stepped easily through the glass, barely having to check for muggles as the street was almost completely deserted. Sighing, James led his two friends through the glass and to the front desk. The lobby was completely empty; James was thankful. He didn't want to have to do be near too many people during this hard time, but the emptiness also meant fewer people than usual were suffering. He stepped right up to the smiling, blonde witch sitting behind the counter. "Hi," he said. "I'm here to see Harold Potter."

The change in expression on the witch's face was monumental. The smile folded into a straight line, her eyes took on a look of sympathy and her shoulders slumped. She immediately dropped her gaze from James' face and uncomfortably shuffled some papers. "He's in Room 412."

"Thank you," Lily said, steering James toward the double doors leading to the hospital section of the building. When they arrived at Room 412, Lily stepped back as though she was going to stay in the hall. James didn't even notice because he had already entered his father's room and gone to his mother. Sirius was about to follow when he saw that Lily was not behind him. "Come in, Lily," Sirius said wearily, turning and facing her. "James will want you here."

"If you're sure…" she trailed off. "I've never even met Mr. Potter and James and I have only been friends for a month and a half."

"But you're best friends now," Sirius responded in a tone which clearly said that he was too stressed out and weary to argue with her. "He invited you, didn't he?" He wheeled around and strode into Mr. Potter's room. Lily followed a moment later.

She saw Sirius holding a tearful Mrs. Potter in his arms and whispering words of comfort to the older woman. Shocked, she couldn't pull her gaze away. She had never known Sirius to be particularly kind or sympathetic, but here he was, holding and comforting Mrs. Potter in her grief. James' voice reminded her that she wasn't alone in the room.

"You know, there's more to him than you see at school."

Lily spun around and saw James seated in a seat next to his father's bed. For the first time, she took in the sight of Mr. Potter in his impaired state. Since he was an incredibly famous auror, Lily had seen pictures of him in Defense books and in a biography about him, and his change from the talented, strong auror was undeniable. Seeing this man who was considered infallible by most of the wizarding world lying in a bed with a chart next to him keeping track of all the spells sustaining his life was humbling for Lily. This man was supposed to be the greatest wizard after Dumbledore and almost equally invincible, and yet he had been hurt in a small battle. Worse still was that he was about to die from those injuries.

"It's scary, eh?" James asked, shattering her thoughts. "He was supposed to be the best. If he can't be safe, can any of us?"

Lily sighed. "It must be worse for you though. You knew him personally when he was at his strongest. I've just read books and seen pictures."

"I guess," James said noncommittally and drifted into silence. Moments later, Sirius sat down next to James and Mrs. Potter took her seat across the bed from the other three.

Almost an hour passed in silence before a healer in lime green robes entered with a trainee dressed in blue behind her. James immediately stood, offering his hand to the woman. "Hi, I'm James Potter, Harold Potter's son. I expect you've met my mum. This is Sirius Black, my best friend and surrogate brother and my friend, Lily Evans."

The healer grasped James' hand. "I'm Marie Corriveau; I've been your father's main healer since July," the woman said with a slight French accent. "This is the intern who's been working with me, John O'Leary."

James smiled sadly as he shook the intern's hand as well. "Thanks for coming."

"We're sorry we didn't meet under better circumstances," commented Healer Corriveau. Suddenly turning businesslike, she continued, "Well, if this is everyone then there's no sense in delaying the process."

Mrs. Potter turned a shocked face to James. He shrugged. The healer had been kind one moment, and the next she was businesslike and cold. James didn't care; if that's what she needed to do to get herself through the day, then so be it. He was sure that some emotional detachment was needed to be healer at any time but particularly during the violent times of Voldemort's current reign of terror. He walked over to his mother and sat down next to her, silently offering support. Mrs. Potter smiled slightly at her son before returning her attention to Healer Corriveau who was definitely ready to begin.

"Okay, since this seems to be everybody," she began, and James nodded his confirmation, "then I'll give you a basic overview of what is going to happen. Currently, Mr. Potter is on a spell that's monitoring his breathing, a spell which is providing him with the nutrients necessary to stay alive and a spell keeping his brain functioning. Removal of these spells will result in Mr. Potter's painless death within 20 minutes of the last one's removal." She looked around the room, taking in Mrs. Potter's, James', Sirius' and Lily's faces.

"I know it's a lot of information and must be very hard to deal with at this time. Please know before I begin that I give you my deepest condolences."

"Thank you," Mrs. Potter said. "If you could excuse us for a moment before you begin the process."

The healer nodded and beckoned the intern to follow. Mrs. Potter stood and James, Sirius and Lily followed suit. "Well, let's say our good-byes," she told the three.

"I'm going ask Healer Corriveau a few questions. I've always wanted to be a healer," she said, sliding out the door. It clicked shut behind her.

"Where'd Lily go?" Mrs. Potter asked, delaying the inevitable moment when she'd have to say good-bye to her husband and call the healer back in to begin the procedure.

"She claims she wants to talk to the healer about becoming one, but I think she thought that this was too personal to be a part of. She's almost overly conscientious about those types of things," James told his mother.

"She could have stayed," Mrs. Potter commented unnecessarily. "She wouldn't make a good healer. She's too emotionally attached to everything she sees."

"Mrs. Potter, I'll say good-bye first," Sirius said, sensing that Mrs. Potter needed someone to make this real or else it was going to take a very long time with Mrs. Potter trying to delay the inevitable at every turn. He sat down in the plastic chair next to Mr. Potter's bed while Mrs. Potter and James turned away as though that would make the moment more personal for Sirius. He sighed and looked at Mr. Potter's peaceful face. If you looked at him, he seemed to be in a deep slumber, the only sign of his coma the chart on the wall tracking all the life support spells in effect. Again, Sirius sighed and then spoke. "Mr. Potter, mostly I want to tell you how much I appreciated all that you did for me before and after I ran away from home. You always treated me as though I were a second son and I was thankful everyday. I know that even though you can't respond to me, you can hear me and I just wanted you to know how appreciative I am, and how much, uh, how much I love you." As the words escaped his mouth, Sirius blushed a bright red and James and Mrs. Potter made sure not to turn around so as not to embarrass him. He leaned down and hugged Mr. Potter and then silently left the room, trying to discreetly swipe at the tears forming in his eyes.

James took the vacated plastic chair and looked down at his father, contemplating their life together for a moment. After several long moments he said something. "Dad? Do you remember that time so long ago when everything was okay? Before Voldemort, but after you became so busy? I asked you if it would always be like that. With you rushing home just in time to tuck me into bed and read me a story. I was probably only seven, but I still remember. Every night after that, you came home by four o'clock and we'd play Quidditch or chess or read a book. You always made time for me if I asked and sometimes when I didn't. Thank you so much. You were the best role model I ever could have asked for. Without your influence, I couldn't be the man I am today, and truthfully I'm pretty proud of that man. Without your influence, I would have no hope of becoming a good father, Dad. Thank you so much for everything you've ever done for me. It means the world and I love you so much." With tear-filled eyes, James leaned down and hugged his father good-bye. He then stood to leave and give his mother some space. Before he did though, he held her tightly to him for several moments. Then he stepped out of the room.

The moment he set foot through the door, James saw Sirius sitting another of those hard plastic hospital chairs, head in hands. Sighing for what felt like the millionth time that day, James rested at hand on his best friend's shoulder. "You alright, Padfoot?"

Sirius looked up with red-rimmed eyes. "Is Evans around?"

James shrugged, "I don't think so. Why?"

"Do you want to cry in front of girl?" Sirius asked rhetorically.

"I have. In front of her to be precise. What's up?"

"That was the hardest thing I've ever had to do," Sirius said truthfully.

James removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes wearily. "I know, Padfoot. I know. But I'm glad I got to say good-bye. It's a little bit better this way since I got to tell him everything I've wanted to say to him. There are no regrets of what I didn't say to him."

"Yeah," Sirius agreed, staring straight ahead. "I guess I'm glad I got to tell your dad how I felt about him."

"He's your dad too, you know," James told him. "He loved you as much as you loved him. He thought of you as a son ever since he met you when were in second year."

Sirius nodded again and James felt a hand softly being placed on his shoulder. He spun around only to see Lily clutching a cup of coffee and smiling sadly at him. "Is everything okay?"

"As well as can be expected," James told her, motioning for her to sit down next to him. She did so.

"How do you feel?" Lily asked, directing the question at either James or Sirius, but Sirius had already closed back up into the Sirius Black most seventh year Hogwarts students knew.

James answered. "Shockingly, okay. I think that being able to say good-bye and tell him everything that I love and appreciate about him actually helped quite a bit."

Lily smiled, but didn't say anything because Mrs. Potter emerged. "I'm going to go find Healer Corriveau." Her face was blotchy with bright and red-rimmed eyes, but she was smiling ever so slightly.

Sirius nodded, and she turned to walk away, but James called out to her. "Mum?"

"Yes," she turned and faced her son.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes." Mrs. Potter smiled sadly, but it was obvious that she truly would be okay. She turned and continued walking down the hall. As she turned the corner to get the healer, James stood and led Lily and Sirius into the hospital room.

Only five minutes had passed before Mrs. Potter returned with Healer Corriveau who had mercifully lost her assistant on the way back to the room. James wanted as few people as possible in the room for this ordeal. In a small file folder the healer was carrying a piece of parchment which she spread on the table and then turned to speak to the four people in the room. "Alright, Mrs. Potter, I'm going to need you to sign these papers for our records here at St. Mungo's. They will be used no where else and will be kept completely confidential." Healer Corriveau handed Mrs. Potter a rather fancy eagle feather quill and a bottle of ink.

Mrs. Potter took the quill in her right hand, dipped it in the ink and lowered her hand to sign the parchment when the tears started. Instantly, James was at her side, pulling her into a comforting embrace. He rubbed her back and whispered words of solace to her as she sobbed into his shoulder. Sirius stood just behind James, perplexed at Mrs. Potter's mood of sad resolution to this hysterical crying. Eventually the tears subsided and Mrs. Potter turned a bright red as she realized Healer Corriveau had been looking on sympathetically for the entire time. "I'm sorry to go to pieces like that. I'm sure you have a million other things to do."

"It's not a problem," Healer Corriveau smiled gently, again confusing James. One moment she was gentle, the next she returned to being terribly cold and emotionally detached and seconds later she was gentle again. Shaking his head to clear it, he tightly gripped his mother's hand as she signed the parchment for the St. Mungo's records. It was also required that she give oral permission to the healer and he tightly held her hand as she recited: "I, Mariana Potter, executor of Harold Potter's will, as his wife, give you, Healer Marie Corriveau, official permission to remove him from the two spells that are keeping him alive." She said all this firmly, but as soon as she finished, she broke down sobbing into Sirius' shoulder. Healer Corriveau respectfully inclined her head to James before pointing her wand at Mr. Potter and quietly repeating "finite incantatem" twice to end both spells.

This just caused Mrs. Potter to sob all the harder and brought tears to James' and Sirius' eyes. Sirius cried as he held Mrs. Potter close to him while James stood in the middle of the room staring dejectedly at the spell chart which now showed no signs of spells but only a jagged line. He turned his tear-filled eyes to Healer Corriveau for an explanation.

"The line shows his heart rate. It's like a heart monitor you'd find in a muggle hospital. When he passes away, the line will go flat and there will be a high-pitched beeping noise. I'll be alerted when that happens, and I'll return."

James nodded and began to cry as well. Lily held him in her arms for several more minutes until a high pitched beeping filled the room. The tears continued in full force as James, Mrs. Potter and Sirius clung to one another while Lily went to check if Healer Corriveau was returning.

Three days later on the morning of October 7, pandemonium reigned in James, Sirius and Lily's hotel room. James was missing his eulogy; Lily couldn't find her shoes, and Sirius couldn't figure how to tie his tie. James was successful first as he pulled the piece of paper out of the dresser drawer.

"James, help me," Sirius whined as he made yet another fruitless attempt at knotting his tie. James turned to his best friend and laughed. Sirius had the tie wrapped several times around his neck and was helplessly trying to untangle himself from the silk. James reached out, pulled the tie over Sirius' head, untangled it and tied it properly around Sirius' neck. "Don't touch it," James warned before turning to the mirror and buttoning his black suit jacket. Despite that he was pureblooded and had a wizarding upbringing, James had been to many muggle functions in his life and was not foreign to muggle clothing especially suit and tie.

Seconds later, Lily located her other black shoe and the three departed from the hotel room. They exited through the lobby for the first time that trip and climbed into a black car waiting for them just outside the hotel's main door. Because it was a muggle and wizard event, they couldn't show up by apparition or wear robes, so they were fully muggle.

It was only a 20 minute car ride to the church, although that didn't sit well with Sirius. Being a part of a pureblood, traditionalist family, he had never ridden in a car before and was impatient with the amount of time it took. He knew that the driver was muggle and was discreet about his curiosity and impatience. He still spent the entire ride whispering obnoxious questions to Lily and James about the car's inner workings and why it took the car so long to get to the church.

When they did arrive, they were immediately pulled to the side by Mrs. Potter who was wearing a nice black and dress and talking a mile a minute. "Okay, the four of us will be waiting hear until they bring the casket with your father's body in. Some aurors from the Ministry will carry the casket in and place it in the middle of the aisle and we will follow. Behind us will be the remainder of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. The mass will begin. Then after the Eucharist it will be time for the eulogies. Alastor Moody will be first, followed by you, James, and lastly Sirius. Does everyone understand?"

They all nodded their heads. Several minutes later eight aurors paraded through the vestibule of the church with Mr. Potter's casket on their shoulders. The church's organ began to play and the priest walked in, followed by the aurors carrying the casket and then Mrs. Potter, James, Sirius and Lily. As he walked up the aisle, James carefully examined the people there. All dressed in their muggle finest, James was stunned with the amount of people whose lives his father had touched.

The mass was a blur of tears and memories for James. He went through the motions of standing, sitting and responding to the priest, as he had been a Catholic his entire life and knew exactly what to do and when to do it. After the Eucharist, James kneeled and, placing his head in his hands, said a prayer for his deceased family members.

Alastor Moody's eulogy flew by. He spoke fairly ambiguously about how good a man Mr. Potter had been, how devoted to his work, and how brave he had been. When Moody reoccupied his seat, James realized that he was supposed to be at the pulpit speaking. He staggered up to the altar and stood behind the microphone.

Looking back, the only eulogy he could remember was Sirius'. Moody's had been a rush of nerves and things he already knew about his father. And when he himself stood at the front of the church seeing everyone there who was paying their final respects to his father, he forgot about his speech and just spoke from his heart. This led to his eulogy being only a blur of both familiar and unfamiliar faces and tears. The only thing he could remember was Lily smiling proudly at him while he spoke.

However, Sirius' eulogy was very memorable. He walked, almost swaggered up to the pulpit after James was finished. Facing the congregation, he grinned and his confidence washed over everyone in the church. Then he spoke.

"Harold Potter was the best man I've ever met in my 17 years of life. He was always kind and welcoming to me. To some of you this might not seem like a big deal, but for me it was the best thing he could have done.

"In order to understand this you must know that I grew up in a very traditionalist family, but for some reason we never agreed on some fundamental issues. Despite the fact that I grew up in this family with their views being forced on me every day, I came out with the completely opposite opinions from anything they believed in. Maybe it was their fundamental values or the influence of my Uncle Alphard, but for whatever reason I was able to escape my family, and I'm eternally grateful that I did. You probably don't see where Mr. Potter fits into this story.

"When I went to my first year of boarding school, I met James, Mr. Potter's son, on the train. Immediately, James and I became the best of friends. I found that he and I agreed on those same fundamental issues that I hated my family over. For Christmas of our second year, James invited me to his house. I jumped at the chance. I had wanted to meet James' family ever since that day I had met him on the train.

"They did not disappoint. Soon after that vacation, I was an honorary member of the Potter family. I only went back to my house over the summer, and even then it was usually only for a couple of weeks. Understandably, I never wanted to be in that house again.

"After a few more years, I finally cracked. My mother and aunt were laughing at a sick joke and I finally lost all common sense. I grabbed everything I owned and left. I didn't know where to go or what to do. In leaving my home, I had not thought anything through carefully. I was lost except for one idea. Mr. Potter worked in London; I would visit him there.

"I got there and spent that day with him at the office. That night he took me home with him. No one has ever been kinder to me.

"Since the day I met him, Mr. Potter has served as an inspiration to me. He not only welcomed me into his family, but he also made sure that I learned everything my father neglected to teach me in my younger years. In the past year since I officially moved in with the Potter, Mr. Potter introduced his religion to me, thought me all of his values and inspired me to be a better person. He also motivated me to improve my grades to become a part of the Law Enforcement Department. Without him, I wouldn't be a devout Catholic, know any moral values and certainly would not be half the person I am today. Mr. Potter touched the lives of many before his unfortunate death, and I know he would have been thankful to all you of for showing up here. Thank you for coming here today. Mr. Potter, rest in peace."

Sirius' voice cracked as he said the last bit, and he hurried down from the pulpit and the altar. James stood at the end of their pew to greet him. When Sirius reached him, James wrapped his arms around him in a hug. The two nearly grown men hugged one another fiercely. Forgetting that they were two men who weren't supposed to show emotional, they held one another as they cried for the loss of their father.

The mass ended, and the church emptied. James, Sirius, Lily and Mrs. Potter climbed into a black limousine behind the hearse holding Mr. Potter's casket. The two cars led the funeral procession to the graveyard nearly 20 minutes away. Many people who had been at the funeral followed, and the ceremony to bury Mr. Potter was short and sweet. After, there was a reception held at the Potter's home and then Lily, James and Sirius returned to Hogwarts just in time for dinner. They entered the Great Hall and were greeted by complete silence.


	4. Finally

A/N: Sorry the update took me so long. I had a lot of stuff to catch up on and then I went to visit family. I hope I make up for it by virtue of the fact that this chapter is 20 microsoft word pages long…Enjoy!

**Chapter 4: Finally**

James swung open the huge doors of the Great Hall rather loudly, and all eyes turned in silence to look at him. There was not one voice talking in the entire hall. Even the teachers were completely silent. James led the other two into the Great Hall, trying to ignore every pair of eyes in Hogwarts which were set upon him and the others.

The walk across the hall seemed to take an eternity with everyone in the school watching them. Mercifully, they eventually reached their friends and slid into space created for them on the benches. "What happened?" James asked looking at Olivia who was seated across the table from him.

"You know Crabbe, the one who always used to be hanging around with Snape and Sirius' brother?" Sirius, James and Lily nodded, and she continued. "He was expelled this morning for using an Unforgivable on Kingsley Shacklebolt, that Gryffindor first year."

James and Lily exchanged a horrified glance. They had spoken to Kingsley on the train. He had been a soft-spoken young boy. Surely he hadn't done anything to provoke Crabbe. James shook his head to clear it of such ridiculous thoughts. Of course Kingsley hadn't provoked Crabbe. Since when did Slytherins need provocation to curse young students? But an Unforgivable? That was below the belt, even for Slytherins.

Lily voiced the question James had been about to ask. "Which one?"

Olivia grimaced. "Two, actually." As James' eyes widened in shock, he wished he had been there to punish Crabbe. Since both the head students had been gone, James knew that they were lucky that someone had caught it all. James caught Olivia's eye and urged her to continue. She did. "He cast the imperious curse first, James. According to the rumor mill, Kingsley was walking along with a friend, Martha Hermes, who's another Gryffindor first year. Well, Crabbe jumped out from behind that creepy statue of Marvin the Marvelous on the second floor and cursed Kingsley. We're all lucky that he chose Kingsley. So anyway, Crabbe cursed Kingsley and then tried to make him turn around and perform the Reductor curse on Martha."

Lily gasped in horror and then slapped her hand over her mouth and silently motioned for Olivia to continue. Olivia smiled slightly and then did so. "Well, Kingsley apparently raised his wand to do it, but then he came to his senses. He threw off the curse, but the after-effects weakened him too much to perform enough magic to disarm Crabbe. Crabbe got over the shock of Kingsley resisting the curse and used the Cruciatus on him."

This time it was Sirius who gasped before turning around and examining the Slytherin table. When he turned back around, Olivia was glaring at him. "Are you quite through?" she asked. "May I continue with my story?"

"My deepest apologies, Miss Chase," Sirius responded with a cocky grin, although it looked somewhat forced. Only James noticed, and he made a mental note to talk to Sirius later.

Olivia smiled. "I guess Martha screamed, and some prefects were patrolling in the area, so they came and stopped the nonsense."

James grimaced as he surveyed the Gryffindor table for either Kingsley or Martha. "Are they okay?"

Maggie jumped in. "Well, physically Martha's fine, but I heard that she's an emotional wreck. Wouldn't you be if Morgan tried to kill you, even if it was under a curse?"

"Absolutely," James said. He turned to Lily. "Martha said she was muggle-born, didn't she? She's probably so confused right now. You and I should talk to her. What about Kingsley?" he asked, directing his question to the entire group.

"Well, he's apparently an emotional _and _physical wreck. The cruciatus is kind to no one, but especially not 11 year old children," Morgan put in.

"This is sick," James said, rubbing his hands over his face before looking up at Sirius. A disgusted expression momentarily crossed Sirius' face and for some reason it reminded James of something. He shot out of his chair and looked around as though searching for answers. Finally he said one word, "Kelsey."

Sirius shot up too, as though remembering something. Then suddenly they both turned and dashed out of the Great Hall, leaving their bemused friends to stare at their backs along with the rest of Hogwarts. "What?" Maggie finally asked, looking at Remus and Peter for information.

"James' sister's name is Kelsey. That's probably who he was talking about," Remus said.

"Sister?" Lily asked. "He has a sister?"

"Wasn't she at the funeral?"

"No," Lily said, piecing it all together. In the sadness and confusion of it all, James and Sirius had even noticed.

* * *

On the second floor James and Sirius finally slowed to a walk. For several moments they walked along in complete silence until Sirius spoke. "Where are we going?" 

"Our room," was James' short reply.

"I can't believe she wasn't there," Sirius said. "Do you think she's okay?"

"I don't know," James snapped.

"Whoa," Sirius said, backing off. "I'm sorry; I'm just as worried about her as you are, James. She's my little sister too."

James looked at Sirius, and his expression softened. "I'm sorry, too. I know you love Kelsey. I'm just so worked up and worried about her."

"You and me both, James. Chaser," he said to the Fat Lady.

"Sorry, boys. That's not the password."

James sighed. "Merlin, this day needs to end."

Sirius agreed wholeheartedly, and the two sat down outside the hall to wait for someone to come and give them the new password.

"What are you going to do when we finally get inside?" Sirius asked, shooting a pointed glare at the Fat Lady.

"Write to my Mum," James told him. "Ask her if Kelsey's okay. God, she has to be. I can't do that again for a family member so soon. And she's so young. Plus with this stuff with Kingsley and Martha, I'm just so stressed out, Padfoot."

"Well, how about a good, old-fashioned prank on Snivellus to cheer you up, mate?"

"I can't," James moaned miserably. "Lily would kill me, and I don't think I have the time. We have to plan Halloween still, and we really should talk to Martha about the whole incident. It's our job as Head Students. Hey, I wanted to ask you something."

"Shoot," Sirius said, shrugging agreeably.

"When we were down in the Great Hall just now and the girls were telling us about Kingsley and Martha, you said something to Liv, and that cocky grin came into place." Sirius nodded. "It looked forced," James told him. "Is everything okay?"

Sirius scoffed. "Are you serious, James? You're like a friggin' girl."

"Look, Padfoot, I'm just worried about you. I want to make sure you're okay. So, I'll ask again: Is everything okay?"

Sirius shrugged more submissively this time. "Not really," he admitted. "I mean, those kids who attacked Kingsley and Martha hang out with Regulus, and that's really hard for me to admit to myself. Regulus has been hanging out with really bad kids. I know he's in Slytherin and all, but you know how Andromeda was in Slytherin?" James nodded. "Well, she turned out like me. You know, different from the family. I kind of hoped Regulus would be the same way."

James sighed. "I know you did Sirius. You've told me that before, but you have to remember that it's not your fault that Regulus is hanging out with those kids. You did everything you could up until you ran away. Hell, you even offered to let him tag along when you ran away. It's not your fault."

Sirius nodded but didn't reply as someone rounded the corner. Neither of them had ever been so pleased to see Dylan Finch in their lives. James jumped up. "Dyl, you're my savior. What's the password? They changed it while we were gone."

Dylan grinned. "It's Ice Mice. How you doing, Captain?"

"Pretty well. It was a rough weekend, but I'll live."

"It's good to have you back." Dylan grinned and disappeared through the portrait hole. James smiled and followed him through. He and Sirius made their way directly to the boys' dormitory. The moment they got there, James pulled out a piece of parchment and began to compose a letter to his mother. By the time he had finished, Remus and Peter had returned from dinner and joined Sirius in the dormitory. James stood and walked toward the door. "I think I'm going to go find Lily and mail this." He said, waving the letter in front of him.

The others didn't acknowledge him, as they were too busy laughing at some dirty joke or another that Sirius had cracked. James shrugged and left the room. Walking through the common room, he looked for Lily's red hair. Luckily, she was sitting near the fire. He made his way over to where she, Olivia, Maggie and Morgan were seated. "Hey girls. What's up?"

Lily and Olivia, who were sitting with their backs to James, swiveled around and grinned at him. "Hey James."

"Lily, do you think I could have a word?" he asked.

Maggie and Morgan glared at him, but Lily nodded. "Sorry to tear her away, girls," James apologized, "But we do have some heads business to attend to."

Olivia rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Potter," but she was grinning.

Lily stood. "Come on, James. This is a tough crowd. What do you need?"

James grinned a good-bye at the girls and followed Lily through the portrait hole and into the corridor. "Walk with me to the owlery. I need to mail this letter to my mum."

"Sure," Lily agreed. "What's the letter about?"

"My sister, Kelsey. She wasn't at the funeral. I'm really worried about her." James grinned at Lily.

"I'm sure she's fine," Lily tried to reassure him.

"Yeah," James answered, but worry still was evident in his eyes. As was something else: guilt.

"James, it's not your fault. How could it be your fault? Anyway I'm sure she's fine."

"I didn't even notice that she wasn't there. She's my sister, for Merlin's sake. How could I have not even noticed her absence? Some brother I am."

"You were really worked up. You were going through a terrible ordeal. It makes sense that you were too distracted--".

"Too distracted, for what? To not notice that my sister wasn't there? That's inexcusable, Lily."

He sighed wearily as he swung open the door to the owlery. "Let's not even talk about it anymore," he told her as he fastened the letter to the owl. "My mum will owl me back and tell me about it as soon as she gets this."

He turned to look at her again. "Look, we need to plan the Halloween feast, the Hogsmeade trip and meet with Martha and Kingsley. We have a million things to do, and there's nothing more I can do about this without a response from my mum."

"Okay, well, where do you want to start?"

James sighed. There was so much to do.

* * *

Much later that day, Lily and James were together in the heads' common room in the antechamber off the Great Hall, awaiting the knock that would signify the arrival of Kingsley and Martha. James was lying down on his side on the couch, facing Lily across the coffee table. She was sitting in an overstuffed armchair staring distractedly at a point slightly above his head. Several times James had tried to get her to snap out of her reverie and speak, but he couldn't attract her attention. 

"Lily?" he asked. "Hey, Lily."

She continued to stare straight ahead as James became slightly worried for her health. "Lily, I really don't think it's good for you to stare so resolutely at a spot like that. Do you want to talk?"

Lily blinked distractedly but shook her head negatively and didn't speak. James shrugged and looked back at the flames, thinking about his father. The silence descended again upon them, but it didn't even possess an uncomfortable element. They silently went about their own thoughts, each immersed in their own world until a soft knock sounded. At first James wasn't sure if he'd heard it, but the second time it sounded he was reassured and jumped up to let Kingsley and Martha in.

When he swung the door open, James had to bite back a laugh at the looks on Kingsley and Martha's faces. He had never seen two people look so terrified at the prospect of speaking with him and Lily. James tried to place a comforting smile on his face. "Hi Kingsley, Martha, come in."

The two significantly smaller students walked into the elegant room with James swinging the door shut behind him. Lily, thankfully, was no longer staring deep in thought at the wall but was ready to greet the two first years with a relaxed smile. "Hi Kingsley and Martha, take a seat."

Kingsley and Martha did as they were told, sitting together on the red couch where James had been seated before. He shrugged slightly and went to sit in an armchair next to Lily's.

There was a moment's silence before James realized just how terrified Kingsley and Martha were and finally spoke. "Okay, before we start, I just want you two to know that you aren't here to be disciplined by Lily and me. We actually just wanted to talk to you."

Lily nodded. "We heard about the incident with Mr. Crabbe while we were gone. First off, James and I wanted to apologize for not being here to help you two out. We were off school grounds and unable to return."

"That's okay," Martha offered. "I'm sorry about your dad, James."

James smiled at the younger student. "Thank you, Martha. And thank you for understanding why Lily and I couldn't be here." Turning his attention to Kingsley, James continued. "Kingsley, how are you doing?"

Kingsley shot a look to Martha before speaking. "I'm okay. I already talked to Martha about it. We're okay."

"Are you sure, Martha?" Lily asked.

Martha smiled sweetly at Kingsley before looking at Lily. "I'm positive. King and I are best friends. He wouldn't hurt me on purpose."

James cut in. "I'm sure you and Kingsley both know that, Martha, but Lily and I called you hear tonight to explain something to you. Kingsley had the Imperious curse placed on him. This is illegal and very harmful. This curse controls the find of the person whom it is cast upon. Kingsley had absolutely no control over his actions. In fact, it's very impressive that he was able to stop himself from performing the curse at all.

"Additionally, Crabbe is part of a group of wizards trying to 'purify' our world. Or that's what they think they're doing. They are trying to eliminate all half-blood and muggle-born witches and wizards from our society by either killing them or intimidating them into returning to the muggle lifestyle. Despite that, purebloods aren't safe either. I'm pureblooded, and I'm sure you know what happened to my dad."

Lily grimaced. "We can't really tell you anymore than we already have. If you have anymore questions you can ask Professor Dumbledore. We wanted to give you some background on what happened though. Also, please don't mention this to your other friends, okay? We're trying to keep this quiet in the school as much as we can."

Martha and Kingsley nodded and stood, following James to the door. He opened the door to the dark Great Hall and let them out. "It's after curfew," he warned them. "If you see any teachers, just tell them that you were meeting with us. They should know that anyway."

The two younger students nodded and set off through the dark Great Hall. James waited to hear the huge oak doors click shut before he returned to his and Lily's common room. He collapsed back on the couch, in a position very similar to the one he was in before Martha and Kingsley had appeared.

Lily was much less distracted than she had been before, and it made her much easier to talk to. In fact, she struck up conversation. "They were so cute, weren't they?"

James nodded. "Martha kind of reminded me of my sister, Kelsey. They looked kind of alike."

Lily smiled. "They'll end up together. They were so close."

James' facial feature sorted themselves into a cocky smirk. "Like us, you mean."

He had been joking, but Lily considered this thoughtfully, finally saying, "Yeah, James, like us."

The smirk dropped from his face. "We are close, aren't we?"

Lily nodded again. "Yeah, we are. I tell you more than I tell Liv, Maggie or Morgan."

"Well that makes sense since we spend so much time together," James told her with a smile.

"That trend isn't going to end anytime soon, James," Lily informed him. "We still have to plan Hogsmeade."

James sighed and slowly stood. "Another task for another time, my lady," he said in a mock noble voice. Dropping the charade, he spoke again. "I'm too exhausted to plan anything else tonight. We have the chance to go to sleep at nine thirty. Let's take advantage of it."

* * *

The next day brought more trials for the group of seventh years from Gryffindor, starting early in the morning. As the nine of them entered the Great Hall in a large pack, Severus Snape called out to them from the Slytherin table. "Oy Potter, Evans!" 

James had been planning on ignoring Snape, but Lily threw a wrench in those plans by turning around. "Mr. Snape? Is there something James or I could assist you with?"

Snape smirked maliciously and spoke, his tones sarcastic. "I just wanted to tell you how nice I thought it was of you to meet with Martha and Kingsley last night. You know, how you met with them to explain Crabbe's actions."

"Thank you, Mr. Snape," James said in a low, threatening voice. "Now if you'll excuse Miss Evans and me, we're going to go eat our breakfast."

The heckling from the Slytherins was consistent all day, but by lunch Lily and James and learned to ignore them and had instructed their friends to do the same. Despite the harassment the Slytherins were providing, the day was not going badly, although James did discover that he had an amount of work to catch up on which should have been illegal.

That evening he entered the head's common room sighing, only to become more depressed when he discovered that he was alone. He threw his bag down on the couch and sighed again, looking around the room for something to distract him from his thoughts of his father's death. James had been holding up rather nicely for the past couple of days, but he hadn't told anyone that it was a false front. He had been smiling and laughing with the others, but it had all been fake. He was sure that Lily and Sirius weren't buying it, but he couldn't even muster the energy to care about that.

He collapsed on the couch with his face in his hands and tried to blink back tears. It was at stressful times like these that James had known that he would miss his father the most. Whenever he was feeling lonely or had too much work to do, James could always write his father. Now he could no longer do that. Letting the tears fall, James sat there and stared into the fire for a long time before he heard someone crossing the Great Hall. He quickly wiped his eyes and pulled his charms essay out of his bag so that he looked like he was doing something constructive. Lily let herself into the head's dorm and collapsed on the armchair opposite James. "Hey," she greeted him. "How do you feel about planning Hogsmeade?"

"What's there to plan, honestly?" James asked with his eyes shut.

"Truthfully, not much," Lily told him. "But we have to plan what there is."

"Okay, so it will be Halloween, which falls on a Friday this year. Students can leave at nine o'clock at the earliest and must be back by five o'clock. Does that sound okay?"

Lily momentarily frowned in concentration before agreeing. "That sounds great. I'll run it by Professor Dumbledore tomorrow and then you and I will make the signs."

* * *

Not surprisingly, James found himself in the same place the next night making signs for the Hogsmeade visit. He and Lily had agreed to make a sign for each of the common rooms as well as one for the Great Hall and the Prefects lounge. As they wrote the signs, James kept thinking of his father. Once again he couldn't contain his tears only this time he wasn't alone. As he scrawled a word on the sign that was to be posted in the Ravenclaw common room, James felt a hot tear descend his cheek. He swiped at it angrily, but his movement made Lily look up. Immediately she stood and came around the table to sit next to him. "What's wrong?" 

James sighed and studied his hands. "Nothing. I'm fine."

Lily frowned. "Are you sure? Because when I'm fine, I don't cry."

James glared at her and sighed again. "I just miss him. That's all."

Lily looked at him closely. "Of course you miss him, James. He's your father and he only died a week ago. No one expects you to be just fine. You've been doing great."

James met her eye miserably. "It's all been a charade. I thought you were seeing through it for sure. I think Sirius and Remus are too."

"I thought something was up," Lily admitted, "but you seemed to be doing so well that I didn't want to change that."

"I wasn't doing well," James smiled emotionlessly. "I didn't want anybody to know. When we came back and heard about Kingsley and Martha and then I thought of everything else you and I had to do, I knew that I had to push my own emotions aside."

Lily grimaced. "I could have done some of the work on my own. I thought you were okay because we usually talk. Since you didn't say anything, I figured everything was fine."

James smiled a real smile this time. "It's getting better, Lily. I promise that. Do you want to go get a house elf to hang these signs?"

Lily nodded. "Sure, let's go."

When Lily and James returned from finding a house elf, James found his owl sitting patiently on the windowsill outside the heads' common room. James hurried to the window and threw it open. "Come in, Toby," he pulled his owl in through the window. Setting the bird down on the table, James untied the letter from its leg. He quickly unfolded it and began to read.

_Dear James,_

_I'm so sorry. I forgot to even mention Kelsey to you. I sent her with my friend Lena to Greece for a vacation. She said good-bye to your father before she left. I didn't think she could handle the whole ordeal, and she said that she was afraid to go to the funeral anyway. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but you didn't ask either. However, I know that you and Sirius must have been worried sick when it occurred to you. Again, I'm so sorry. _

_Kelsey is home now and is doing just fine. You'll see her when you come home for Christmas._

_Love,_

_Mum_

James looked up from the letter. "She's okay," he muttered to Lily. "My mum sent her to Greece with a friend."

"Oh," was all Lily said. She didn't know how to react.

"Yeah," James stared at the parchment in his hands for a moment before looking up, fire snapping in his eyes. "How could she do this? Kelsey didn't get to go to the funeral, and my mum claims that Kelsey didn't want to, but I bet she only wrote because she knew I'd react like this. She was right that Sirius and I were worried sick. Kelsey could have been anywhere. We had no idea where she was, and what's worse is that we didn't even notice. How could we be such horrible brothers?"

"Oh James," Lily sighed. "You aren't horrible brothers. You were grief stricken, and it distracted you. Don't blame yourself."

James nodded. "Okay, I'll try not to, but it's really hard."

Lily nodded as well. "I know it is, but you've got to believe that it wasn't your fault, and nothing happened. Kelsey's okay, and you'll see her at Christmas. It all worked out fine, James."

"I know, and I'm so grateful."

The two lapsed into silence as they both scribbled away at unfinished homework. When she began it, Lily discovered that their charms essay was mindless work. Because she didn't have to think about it, Lily's musings drifted to James Potter. She knew she liked him. She had realized that at Mr. Potter's funeral when she saw how kind James was to his family. These past few days with everything happening had forced Lily to see the real James Potter. She also realized however that James had always been more mature than he had let on. When she had told them, Olivia, Maggie and Morgan had thought that her change from hating James Potter to wanting to date him had been rather abrupt, but in truth, Lily's opinion of James had been changing ever since the day he saved Severus Snape's life. When she had heard about James' venture to face a werewolf in order to save his sworn enemy, Lily had been tossed into a pool of second thoughts about James. As she had sorted out these thoughts, Lily had realized that James wasn't nearly as bad as he came off as. Looking back, she could pinpoint that day as the one which held the moment that she began to think of James differently.

* * *

It was Friday, October 31, and Lily was sick of school. Needless to say, Halloween brought her and her friends a short and much needed break from classes. She and her friends had already laid out an elaborate plan of the day's events beginning with Morgan and Olivia's attendance at Quidditch practice. James was a maniac about winning the Quidditch Cup, and as a result, his team was practicing at every moment they could be on the pitch. He was requiring his team to meet in the common room half an hour before practice so that they didn't miss a moment of it. Lily thought he was obsessive, but what did she know? 

So Morgan and Olivia had Quidditch all morning, and while they did that Maggie and Lily were heading to Hogsmeade with Remus, Sirius, Peter and Andrew. At noon Lily, Maggie and the boys were meeting James, Olivia and Morgan at a new restaurant called The Magic Touch. After that, Lily and James, despite their friends' protests that they were sucking the fun out of Halloween, were going back to the castle to do homework and study.

Therefore on the morning of October 31, when Lily woke up, she was excited and bounced out of bed, fully energized. She quickly showered and then slipped into the clothes she had carefully chosen for the day. She wore mostly black in spirit of the day. She had considered wearing orange as well, but the color clashed so horribly with her hair that she didn't dare, especially not in her quest to impress James. It was a habit that she had picked up since she had discovered that she liked James at his dad's funeral. She wasn't sure she was thrilled with it either. She had never changed anything for a boy until now, and she didn't know why James was having this effect on her. The uncertainty was not something she enjoyed.

Shaking herself from her thoughts, Lily slipped from the dormitory and into the common room. Lily made her way down to the Great Hall where she sat down between Olivia and Morgan a across from James who was deeply immersed in a conversation with the people sitting next to him. Lily recognized them as a fifth year prefect, Dylan Finch, and a third year, Bridget McEnberg, both members of his Quidditch team. "Hey Liv, Mags," she greeted as she helped herself to a blueberry muffin. She smiled and nodded at James as he looked at her. He barely acknowledged her with a small nod. She made an aggravated face at him after he returned to his conversation. She slowly ate her muffin and fumed internally at James. He had barely glanced at her, and that made her angry. She liked talking to him because his charisma and character charmed her. She didn't have anything she particularly wanted to talk to him about, but she did want to talk to him. She was glad that she knew that the Marauders didn't date below fourth year, or else she would be sure a 13 year old was stealing James from her. She shook her head; she had serious issues.

James apparently had wrapped up his conversation because he spoke to her. "Is everything alright, Lily? You seem distracted."

Lily grinned. "Yeah, everything's fine."

"Well good. Then I can tell you to calm down because I do have other people to speak to."

Lily grinned sheepishly, and her cheeks tinged pink. Had she been that obvious? "Hello to you too, Potter."

"Potter? We're back to last names now, Evans? I can do that too."

Lily grinned widely. She loved this playful banter with James. It was something she had missed out on while she was busy hating him. "I know that," she answered, the grin still firmly plastered in place. "We managed the whole last name thing for six years, didn't we?"

James smiled and took a sip of his tea, never breaking his eye contact with her. After swallowing, James spoke, "But I like being on a first name basis with you."

"So do I, believe me," Lily smiled, thinking about just how true that was.

"Dyl, pass the juice," James requested. After he took the pitcher of orange juice from Dylan, James poured some into his glass and then offered it to Lily. She nodded, her mouth full of sausage. He poured some in her glass and then set the pitcher down between them. He quickly drank his orange juice, glanced at his watch and then stood. "We have the pitch in 15 minutes. Let's go. Is everyone here? Johnny? Ethan? Dylan? Bridget? Liv? Morgan?" Without waiting for anyone to answer, he continued, "Excellent, let's go."

He counted heads as his team filed past him. Then, as they were marching across the Great Hall to the door, James looked at Lily. "Well, I'll see you later then, Lil."

"See you later," Lily echoed.

He smiled at her. "I feel badly leaving you all alone. Do you want to come along and watch for a while?"

"That's alright. I'd better go and wake up Maggie. We're going to Hogsmeade with your friends this morning."

"Sirius will like that," James smirked. "Feel free to drop by if those two become intolerable."

"I would," Lily grinned, "but I wouldn't want to leave the rest of the boys to fend for themselves."

"Okay, well, I'd better go," James motioned at his team. "They're waiting for their captain to lead them into battle."

Lily laughed and looked where James was pointing. This was true. The team was assembled, broomsticks in hand, waiting for their captain. Lily laughed out loud at the sight of James running through the Great Hall toward his waiting team. She turned back to her breakfast and finished the sausage and eggs she had just served herself. After this she idled and stalled for as long as she could before heading out of the Great Hall to wake up Maggie. She always put off this task because it was so difficult. Since it was almost 9:30, Lily dragged herself up to Gryffindor tower to wake up her friend.

* * *

"Come on, Chase, hustle." James shouted. He had his team in a 3 versus 3 scrimmage. It was Dylan, Ethan and Olivia against Bridget, Morgan and Johnny. James had made it a simple game: Three chasers against three chasers, no keepers, beaters or seekers and normal Quidditch rules with only the quaffle in play. It was a fantastic exercise because it helped everyone see the field from a chaser's point of view. In James' opinion, chasers were the most important players on a Quidditch pitch. The score was 30-20 with Olivia's team in the lead. While refereeing the game, James was carefully watching his team's progress. He had never realized how much potential his team possessed. They all had natural talent, and Bridget was developing hers especially quickly. James grinned as he thought about his youngest player and her amazing development into a talented chaser after only a month of serious practice. His eyes scanned over the pitch looking for the quaffle. Dylan had it and was in the process of passing it to Olivia. When she caught it, she turned and faked past Bridget before passing to Ethan and streaking off to receive the ball back in a give and go and score. 

"Fantastic play, reds," James shouted to Olivia's team. He had split them up into the Red and Gold teams. "Great way to get everyone in involved in the play. Liv, that's the way to move with and without the ball. The give and go was perfect. That's what I was trying to convey to all of you earlier. Did you all see Liv just then?"

The team nodded giving James their utmost respect. "Liv got away from Morgan, creating separation from her defender. She got the ball from Finch and pulled a fabulous move on McEnberg. Liv gave the ball up to Ethan and received it back in a give and go and scored. That was fantastic. She was selfless and gave the ball up and then got it back. Great play, Liv." James was hardly ever the complimentary, and he must have been particularly impressed because 10 minutes later at 11:05, he blew his whistle and led his team down to the ground. "Okay, Gryffindors," he began, "That was a fantastic practice, really it was. There were a couple mistakes, but we'll work on improving those. I'm ending practice early more because I have an important commitment at noon in Hogsmeade than because I'm rewarding you."

"Did you get your date with Evans?" Dylan asked as the group broke up.

"Not yet," James grinned. "I'm working on it. We're friends."

"Let me guess," Johnny snorted in laughter, coming up behind them. "Friendship is the first step to a good relationship. Is that her motto?"

"More like mine," James told Johnny with a glare.

Johnny laughed even louder and harder, and James threatened him with another glare. "It's a long way around the castle 10 times, and I wouldn't be afraid to make you run that."

Johnny stopped laughing and James smiled before running to catch up with Morgan and Olivia.

Exactly at noon, according to James' watch, he, Morgan and Olivia filed into The Magic Touch, looking around for their friends. "Hi, can I help you?" asked a clerk with bright pink, curly hair.

"Yes," Olivia spoke up. "We're looking for a bunch of Hogwarts students?"

"Party of…" the woman trailed off, letting Olivia fill in the blank.

"Nine," Olivia said.

"Abbott, Christopher?"

"No," James said. "Is there a Lily Evans?"

The woman scanned the list, tracing a long, manicured nail down the parchment. "Yes, follow me. You're seated out on the deck over looking the river," the clerk told them, leading the three through a smoky section of the restaurant and out the door. James saw Lily, Remus, Sirius, Maggie, Peter and Andrew sitting around a large, circular table. James and Olivia sat on either side of Lily and pulled out menus. "Anybody want to share the deluxe nachos with me?" James asked, his eyes still fixed on the menu.

"What's in it?" Lily asked.

"Corn chips, peppers, cheddar, monterey jack, and mozzarella cheeses and a choice of ground beef or chicken with guacamole."

"If we can get it without the guacamole, I'll share with you," Lily offered.

Just then a waitress appeared next to the table. "Welcome to The Magic Touch, my name's Kristina, and I'll be your server today. Can I start you off with something to drink?"

"That would be great," Sirius exclaimed enthusiastically. James and Lily exchanged a glance. His tone was too enthusiastic. "Can I get an Ogden's?"

"Yeah right," Kristina scoffed. "You're from Hogwarts. I'm afraid it's business policy to monitor what is ordered by and served to Hogwarts students. I was in Hufflepuff myself, but I recognize that shirt you're wearing as a Gryffindor shirt, and you're two friends here are wearing head student badges."

"Fine," Sirius muttered under his breath. "Then can I have a butterbeer please?"

"Butterbeers all around," James said and nobody objected so Kristina took that as their order.

"Do you need a few minutes to decide on food?" she asked.

"That would be fabulous," Olivia told her with a smile. Kristina smiled and walked off.

"She's cute," Peter commented blandly to no one in particular.

"I guess," James muttered noncommittally, glancing at Lily as he did so. All of his friends except Lily noticed this, but no one chose to comment, instead staring resolutely at their individual menus.

Just a few minutes later, Kristina reappeared next to their table. "Are you ready to order?" she asked brightly.

They all answered her with variations of a positive response, and she smiled again. "Excellent, why don't we start with you?" She pointed to James with her quill and smiled.

James placed his order. "I'd like the deluxe nachos without guacamole with two side dishes: chips for me and…"

"I'm sharing with him," Lily continued. "I'd like a side salad please."

"Okay, next." Everyone at the table ordered, the only incident coming after Peter blushed furiously when Kristina smilingly asked for his order. He stammered out what he wanted, but Kristina quickly became uncomfortable under Peter's obvious admiration. "He just thinks you're good looking," Sirius said charmingly, the infamous grin firmly in place. "And I have to say, I agree. Would you like to join me?" he asked suggestively, still grinning in his charming way.

Kristina blushed furiously and vehemently shook her head before hurrying away from their table. As soon as Kristina was out of earshot, Remus rounded on Sirius, quiet, but harsh all the same. "Do you _have _to hit on employees wherever we go?" he asked in a harsh whisper with an expression on his face to rival McGonagall's strictest.

"Oh come on, Remus," Sirius whined, still with a half-smile on his face despite Remus' scolding. "I was just having a little fun with Peter here, and I didn't hurt anyone, did I?"

"Not physically," Remus snapped, his gaze moving from the door through which Kristina had disappeared, to Peter who was flushed bright red and back to Sirius' face. "But Kristina was very, very embarrassed, as was I. I assume Peter was as well."

"Yeah," Peter said, looking down at his plate. "I was."

"So was I," James added. Everyone else agreed quietly, seemingly not wanting to make Sirius angry since they weren't nearly so close with him as the James, Remus and Peter were.

"Sorry," Sirius muttered, and although none of them believed his sincerity, they knew it was the best they would get. Sirius wasn't always mature and certainly almost never saw the error in his ways. He was like a five year old in a candy store when he came across women, often leading to inappropriate actions and remarks.

Soon enough they had all forgiven Sirius and were laughing, talking and smiling. "So, James," Remus asked, changing the conversation from stories of Sirius' summer fling (which was quickly moving into the realm of too much information) "How's the team looking this year?"

"Really good, actually," James grinned, loving every second of talking about his team. "I think we're going to be awesome this year. We have three seventh years, two sixth years, a fifth year and a third year, so we have ton of experience with only one new player."

"That's great, you three," Lily grinned. She liked Quidditch a lot. In fact, she was a fairly big fan for a muggle born, but she could never trust a broom to hold her up in the air because she had grown up thinking of brooms as only an implement to clean the house with. They had only flown in fairy tales. When she had arrived at Hogwarts all that changed, but she still couldn't develop a trust of flying brooms. Still, she was happy for James, Olivia and Morgan. They were all so good at Quidditch.

Broken from her reverie by Sirius' remarks ("Well, Maggie and I are out of here") Lily checked her watch and jumped at the time. It was already 2:50. "Yeah, so am I," she agreed, standing. "James, are you coming?"

He glanced at his watch. "Yeah," he stood as well. "I'm coming. See you slackers later. Lily and I are going to do our homework.

"Overachievers," Olivia snorted quietly, but James heard her and threw her a nasty glare.

"Come on, Lily, let's go," James commented, tactfully ignoring Olivia's remark aside from the rather childish glare he had given her. James and Lily followed Maggie and Sirius out the door. They turned different ways as they left the building, Lily and James exiting the town as Maggie and Sirius went deeper into the business district.

"So," James said breaking the silence even though it had been perfectly comfortable. "What kinds of things do you do at home?"

"I swim and sail. My house is on the beach, so I do a lot of water activities. I love to sit on the beach and read during the summer. You said you play soccer. Do you play well?"

"Yeah, I do," James answered indignantly.

"How well?"

"Well enough to play on the best junior league team in Manchester."

"Really well, then," Lily said, taken aback.

"Not to be arrogant, but yeah."

"Cool, do you have games?"

"Yeah, I do. I leave school this weekend for one."

"Can I come to one sometime?"

"Yeah, sure. But don't come to this weekend's. It's in America."

"Are you going to miss class?" Lily asked, worried.

James frowned. "Yeah, I'm sorry. Just Friday, though."

At this point they had stopped outside the gates to the castle. They stood very close together, looking into one another's eyes. James leaned down to kiss Lily, and just as their lips were about to touch someone shouted "James! Lily!"

The head students sprung apart until they were at least two feet from each other. James looked around wildly for the source of the voice until his eyes fell on Rubeus Hagrid. He rolled his eyes slightly but grinned nevertheless at the huge man.

"Yer not supposed ter be standin' out there," he continued. "Dumbledore's orders, I'm supposed ter let students in immediately."

James sighed but led Lily through the gate. Hagrid gave him a knee-buckling pat on the back as he passed, and he collapsed on Lily who pushed him back up to his full height with difficulty.

When they reached the castle, James restarted the conversation they had been having before they had almost kissed and Hagrid had yelled at him, sick of the awkward silence which had followed. "Have you ever played football before?" James asked.

"I wish. It looks like fun. I watch my cousin's games all the time, but girls just don't play."

"Why not?" James asked, genuinely confused.

"Lily knew why he was confused. In the wizarding community it was perfectly common—expected even—for women to lead career as successful as their husbands'. Kids all had the chance to play Quidditch whether they were boys or girls. It just wasn't the same in the muggle world. Girls didn't play sports, and they certainly didn't lead careers to rival their husbands'. Lily tried to explain this to James. "In the muggle world, women are expected to stay at home, have kids and take care of those children. They barely ever have careers, and if they do, they aren't as successful as their husbands'."

"What does that have to do with little girls playing or not playing football?"

"Girls don't play sports," Lily attempted to explain. "They stay home and learn how to cook and how to lead the life they're supposed to. That's why being a witch is such a fantastic opportunity for me."

"I see," James considered this for a moment before continuing. "Is that why you work so hard to be the best plus put up with all those bloody purebloods calling you…" James trailed off, not wanting to offend her.

"Mudblood?" Lily offered. James cringed and nodded. "Yes, well, I've never thought of it like that, but now that you point it out, that is probably my subconscious motivation to try so hard."

They lapsed into silence, James contemplating what Lily had told him, Lily considering James' quick grasp of what she had meant to say about muggle women and their opportunities. "Of course," Lily continued as they reached the entrance to the Great Hall and pushed open the big doors. "There are some assertive, very self-confident women who do lead careers which rival their husbands'." James pushed open the door to the antechamber off the Great Hall and held it for Lily.

"But you're not?" James asked as he followed Lily through the door.

"No," Lily smiled at him over her shoulder.

"Well, why not?" James followed her into the heads' common room.

"Because that's not my nature," she flopped onto a couch and James sat down next to her.

"Well, then what is your nature?" James asked, grinning sexily at Lily.

As her knees went weak at James' grin, Lily answered. "Well, I'm not necessarily assertive toward people I don't know well, so it would be hard for me to stick up for myself in the business world. If I know someone well, though, quite frankly, I'm a bitch."

James grinned the grin again, and Lily almost cried at the effect it was having on her. "Well, then, come on bitch," James said. "Let's bust out that homework."

Lily laughed lightly. "Can we do transfiguration? I need some serious help with that human transfiguration stuff."

"Sure, let me get my bag." James stood up and flashed his knee-weakening grin at her over his shoulder.

Lily almost passed out as James turned around and made his way to the study where he had left his bag. "What is wrong with me?" Lily wondered idly, not sure if she was opposed to the change in her nature. Every time James smiled, she went weak in the knees, and she laughed at any remotely amusing comment James made. She had no more time to ponder her problems though because James came back with his bag.

* * *

Sirius, Maggie, Andrew, Olivia, Remus, Morgan and Peter were in Hogsmeade still. Walking down the main street of the town, Remus brought up a subject they were all dying to talk about. "So," he began, "when does everyone think James and Lily will get together?" 

Olivia spoke up confidently. "They're getting together right now. That's some serious sexual tension between those two."

"Liv," Morgan laughed. "Sexual tension? Maybe regular tension, but I doubt it was sexual…"

"She the expert," Maggie whispered to Sirius. "You'd have to be blind not to see the sexual tension between her and Remus."

Sirius let out a bark of laughter which he quickly tried to stifle as Remus eyed him suspiciously.

"What's so funny, Sirius?" he asked in a would-be curious voice.

"Oh, nothing," Sirius said, his king of the cover story mask firmly in place. "Maggie was just telling me how good looking she thinks I am and how often she stares at me."

"You are so conceited. Why would you laugh at that?" Remus questioned, not believing a word of Sirius' story.

Sirius had admit the story wasn't his best, but he had to continue with the same one he'd started. "I laughed in disgust," he tried to explain matter-of-factly. Remus opened his mouth to protest, but Sirius cut him off by continuing. "I laughed in disgust," he repeated, "at the fact that I never noticed her staring." He looked Remus straight in the eye. "You know I'm good at that kind of thing."

Remus conceded that fact but still looked like he didn't believe Sirius. In fact, he exchanged a skeptical look with Morgan. Sirius chuckled softly and wrapped an arm around Maggie's shoulders, squeezing them in a one-armed hug. He steered her away from the others and into Madam Puddifoot's. "Ugh," Maggie complained softly to Sirius as they waited to be seated. "I despise this place."

Sirius looked curiously at her. "You're the first girl I've ever had say that to me about this place. Most girls beg me to take them here."

Maggie made a face. "Marcus Holcomb took me here in fourth year and tried to feel me up. It was vile."

She looked uncomfortable. Sirius looked into her face and immediately felt bad. "Hey, I'm sorry," he said gently, touching her face. "Do you want to go on a date with me somewhere else?"

She nodded, and he held the door for her as they left. "Let's go to the Three Broomsticks. That's always a good place to eat. Madam Rosmerta will treat us well," Sirius told her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

Maggie was still quiet and upset after they were seated in the Three Broomsticks. "Wow," Sirius said, "being felt up by Marcus Holcomb must have been a truly traumatizing experience."

Maggie laughed and assured him that it had been. "He was a super popular Ravenclaw," Maggie pointed out. "He was supposed to be this great kid who could do no wrong. I was thrilled to be asked out by him. It was supposed to be this great honor. So we went to Madam Puddifoot's, and he was really sweet, ordered me coffee, paid for it. Then he leaned across the table to kiss me and felt me up. I was disgusted. I thought he liked me, but he just wanted to get in my pants because he thought I was pretty." She twisted a strand of long dark hair around her finger uncomfortably, as though she had said too much.

"You are pretty," Sirius assured her, leaning forward. "You're beautiful, gorgeous." He leaned forward even more so that their faces were merely inches apart. "But, that's not why I want you to be my girlfriend, not entirely, at least. Yes, I am physically attracted to you, that's the truth, but you fascinate me, and I want to get to know you better. Will you be my girlfriend?"

Maggie nodded, beaming.

"That was sweet," Madam Rosmerta said.

Sirius and Maggie both jumped; she had snuck up on them. "Do I get a discount for my sweetness?" Sirius asked, grinning up at her.

"Nope, I don't give discounts, Sirius,"

"Fine," Sirius pretended to be angry for a moment before turning back to Rosmerta and continuing. "This is my girlfriend, Maggie Correnti. She's a Gryffindor seventh year as well."

"Nice to meet you, Maggie. Sirius, call me when you know what you want."

"I think it'll only be drinks for us today, Rosie, unless you want something else, Maggie?" Maggie shook her head.

Sirius turned back to Rosmerta. "We tried out that new place, The Magic Touch, today. It wasn't nearly as good as the food is here. We won't be returning."

"Okay, Sirius," Rosmerta winked. "I'll get you two butterbeers, yeah? Okay, send James in soon."

Sirius nodded, and Rosmerta walked away. Sirius winked at Maggie, "She's always liked James the best."

* * *

Peter had long since separated himself from Olivia, Andrew, Sirius, Remus, Maggie and Morgan. He doubted that they were all together. In fact he had left as they departed The Magic Touch. He didn't think they'd miss him. He wanted desperately to have friends who valued him more than someone to be a decoy in an elaborate prank or someone to be the butt of their offensive jokes. 

His beady black eyes darted around him, and when he was sure no one was looking, he ducked into a dark side alley which he had been curious about for a long time. As he walked down the mysterious street Peter was reminded very much of Knockturn Alley in London.

Peter entered a safe-looking shop, but was mistaken in his impression of it. As the bell on the door tinkled, he saw Severus Snape leaning on the counter examining a headless eyeball and talking to the man behind the counter. Snape saw him immediately. This put Peter in a sticky situation. If he left without speaking to Snape, Snape would tell everyone that Peter had been there. He didn't want to risk losing the only friends he had if the thing with the Slytherins wasn't going to work out. Snape raised his eyebrows in surprise upon spotting Peter. "Pettigrew," he greeted coolly, trying to avoid making a scene.

"Snape," Peter squeaked, beads of sweat already forming on his hairline.

Snape turned back to the elderly man he was speaking to. "Well, thank you, Mr. Spikes, do you think you could hold this for me? I won't be able to make it back until December, most likely."

"Of course, Mr. Snape."

"Thank you, sir."

Spikes nodded shortly, and Snape left. The bell tinkled as Snape said, "Pettigrew, a word, if you please?"

Peter nodded meekly and followed Snape through the door. As soon as the door shut behind them, Snape rounded on Peter. "What the hell are you doing here? Spying for Potter? God, you're just Potter's lapdog, aren't you? He just plays around with you constantly."

Peter tried to look intimidating by drawing himself up to his full height. "James doesn't know I'm here," he said proudly.

"Bully for you," Snape snapped. "So why the hell are you here then?"

"I was curious. Plus I'm sick of being decoy for James and Sirius, someone who makes them look good because they befriended pathetic little Peter Pettigrew. They made friends with me in first year because they felt bad and now they can't get rid of me."

"I'm glad you've finally seen the light, Pettigrew," Snape sneered sarcastically. "You've finally discovered Potter's and Black's true natures. Is there more?"

"I need to be around people who appreciate my talents instead of harping on my deficiencies," Peter told Snape, not sure why he was pouring heart out to his best friends sworn enemy.

Snape smiled. "Well, Pettigrew, we can find some use which takes advantage of your _talents," _he said, pausing before the last word. "Come with me. I need to stop by somewhere else before I can take you to talk to the others. Be patient."

* * *

Later at the Halloween feast, everything seemed to be back to normal. Other than the fact that Sirius and Maggie were dating, nothing had changed since the morning.Fr one night they could relax, and everyone took advantage of it. 

The Gryffindor seventh years as well as Veronica, Remus' girlfriend, sat together in their closely knit group, gathered in the middle of the Gryffindor table. James served himself some dinner and leaned back in his seat. He looked around and snorted. Peter was shoveling food into his mouth so fast it looked as though he was trying to occupy himself so much that he wouldn't have to talk. There were mashed potatoes and gravy around his mouth, and cranberry sauce was on his shirt, just to the left of his tie.

Much later, James picked up his last bite of food, and his plate instantly cleaned itself. Just then, Nearly Headless Nick squeezed himself between Sirius and Maggie who had been sitting very close together. Everyone leaned in except Veronica. Over the years the nine Gryffindors had become very close with Nick. He told them everything he heard from the other ghosts and professors. They were eager to hear his news.

"Hello," he greeted them, seemingly ignorant of their impatience to hear what he had to say. "How are you?"

They all scooted forward in their seats to hear Nick better.

"Hi Nick," Olivia said. "We're all doing well. How are you?"

"I'm well, thank you, Olivia. I know you're all impatient to hear what I have to say, so I'll fill you in.

"Yesterday I was floating through Professor Dumbledore's corridor when I heard him holding one of his meetings with Professor McGonagall, so I floated outside of the door, listening carefully. They were talking quite seriously about Lord Voldemort." He glanced quickly around and saw curiosity and dread on the faces of everyone in the group except Veronica who wasn't really listening. Remus looked annoyed with her and was sliding over as close to Morgan as he could. Everyone in the group was curious to hear news about Voldemort and his destruction of their world.

"Come on, Nick. We're all nervous. Do share," Sirius encouraged. They were all eager to hear what Nick had to say, none more so than Sirius. He always took the news of dark activity hard because of his family's involvement.

Nick smiled patronizingly at Sirius. "All in due course, tonight you are in luck, though. I'm ready to tell you right now. Voldemort attacked a small wizarding village to get at one of the Order of the Phoenix members." Nick paused momentarily to check for eavesdroppers. "It was Emmeline Vance's family." The entire group glanced over at Emmeline, who was surrounded by her friends. Her face was ashen, and she was staring blankly ahead.

"Happy Halloween, indeed," James muttered, his face almost as stricken as Emmeline's. The rest of the group exchanged glances. James' family was very close with Emmeline's. Lily glanced at Sirius' brooding face. She knew it broke his heart to see his classmates and best friend hurt by what his family had done. She also barely heard him mutter, "trick or treat?" sarcastically.

James looked over at Emmeline again. He felt terrible and knew he would have to talk to her at some point. He looked back down at the chocolate cake on his plate, which, moments before, he had been thrilled to eat. Now he felt sick with disbelief. Everything had been going so well and now his world seemed to be collapsing about his ears. He looked slowly around at his friends. Olivia, Morgan, Maggie and Lily were talking quietly. Sirius and Remus were quiet, waiting for James, their unnamed but undisputed leader, to talk. Peter was also quiet, but instead of sitting stock still like Sirius and Remus, he was fidgeting frantically with seemingly everything he could reach. James cleared his throat. "I'll talk to her."

Remus leaned forward clearly not pleased with James' answer. "She keeps looking over here. You're the only one who understands what she's going through. Both of your parents were totally devoted to the Order of the Phoenix. You both knew that your parents were directly in danger's path."

Sirius continued, "You lost your Dad because of his devotion to the cause. You need to remind Emmeline that even though she lost her parents, she is still on the right side. She needs to stay on the good side. For what your parents told me, James, the Vances were good people and devoted members. Remind her what she wanted before their death, and remind her that she needs to keep living her life, the life she wanted to live before her parents died. Remind her that nothing has changed even though everything has."

James nodded and stood. He set his eyes straight ahead, ignoring the whispers. He tapped one of Emmeline's best friends on the shoulder. "May I sit here for a moment?" The brunette glanced at Emmeline and then back at James and then nodded slowly.

James thanked her as she stood. Quickly, he took her seat and put his arms around the back of Emmeline's chair. "Emmeline?" James asked. She didn't respond. "Em? Hey, will you talk to me?"

A blonde girl across the table from Emmeline looked at James. "She won't talk to anyone."

James grimaced. "Does she have a boyfriend?"

The blonde girl shook her head. James swore softly under his breath before turning back to Emmeline. "Em? Can we take a walk? Is there a place you want to go?"

Emmeline turned to face James, not a single tear track on her shock filled face. He knew the tears would start sooner or later. "My common room," she said so quietly James almost didn't hear her.

"Your common room?" he asked. "Well, may I walk you there?"

She nodded. They exited the Great Hall, and James put an arm around Emmeline's shoulders in a platonic manner and pulled her close to his body.

"Em?" James asked quietly. "Was it your whole family?"

Emmeline nodded and James sighed. "I'm so sorry. I know you don't want to hear that right now. You just want everything to be back to normal, don't you?"

Emmeline nodded again. "Yes," she said, and James noticed that the tears had started.

"I understand," James said sympathetically. "But you need to remember that you can't change the past. What you can do and what I'm planning on doing is remember this awful feeling and put it toward improving life for other families who protest Voldemort after us.

"I know your parents were heavily involved with the order. You have to remember that Voldemort didn't go after them because they were a part of the order. He doesn't know who's in the order and who isn't. "Please stay with us, and stay with our side."

Emmeline stopped and James noticed they were outside the Ravenclaw common room. She looked up at him. "I'm not switching sides. I don't blame the order for my family's death. The only thing to blame is Voldemort."

"I'm glad you think that way," James said. "It's a good mindset."

Emmeline nodded her thanks and let them into the common room. She sat on the couch and James stood next to it awkwardly. "I'm going to go to sleep," Emmeline said. "I'm exhausted."

James nodded. "Do you want me to stay?"

"Yeah," Emmeline nodded, lying down and closing her eyes. "Please."

Not five minutes after Emmeline had fallen asleep two people burst into the Ravenclaw common room. James recognized the girl as the brunette who had been sitting with Emmeline before. Remus was with her. "James," Remus exclaimed. "This is Dorcas. She'll stay with Emmeline. I need your help in the Great Hall now."

James took one look at the panic and fear written all over Remus' face and followed him out of the common room.


	5. Fighting and Quidditch At Last

** Author's Note: I am so incredibly sorry for the delay. My computer crashed, and it was a while before it was all fixed. Plus, once it was fixed, I had to finish three papers before I head to Baltimore this weekend. So, again, I am so sorry for the delay.  
**

**Chapter 5: Fights and Quidditch At Last  
**

Terrified, James followed Remus out of the Ravenclaw common room, desperately trying to get Remus to speak to him as they ran. "Remus, what the hell happened? Emmeline needed me."

"She'll be fine with Dorcas," Remus reasoned. "Anyway, your own best friend needs you more."

"What happened?" James demanded angrily.

"Sirius and Regulus got into a fight."

"_Shit," _James exclaimed loudly. "That's not good."

"I know that. Peter and I tried to stop him from doing anything rash, but it didn't really work. When I left, wands were being drawn."

"Shit," James swore again. "We have to hurry." He took off as fast as he could with Remus trying to keep up.

As they ran, James kept talking over his shoulder. "God, I hope Lily doesn't try to break it up. She'll get killed by one of them. The Blacks aren't famous for their tempers for nothing."

Remus nodded. "I warned her to not try to step in, but I don't know if she listened. I hope she did too. I told all the girls not to step in."

"Even Veronica?" James asked.

Remus rolled his eyes. "Yes, even her. As much as I dislike her right now, I'm not going to leave her to be killed by Sirius or Regulus."

James laughed slightly. The sight they saw when they reached the Great Hall was not pretty. Sirius and Regulus were facing one another, wands pointed directly at each others' hearts. The tables were lying broken on the floor, a product of one of the boys' rage, James suspected. Grimacing, James took in the circle of students with Sirius and Regulus in the middle. He saw thankfully that Lily was being held back by Peter and Andrew and Maggie, Morgan, Olivia and Veronica were frozen in fear. For a moment James was stopped by the shock of it all, but as the first curse was thrown, his brain returned to him, and he sprung into action.

He hadn't gotten very far when another thought popped into his brain. Where were the teachers? Scanning the Great Hall, James didn't see a single one. Shocked, he turned to Remus.

"Where are the teachers?" he asked.

"They went to meet about the Emmeline situation. It's all very new to them. You know, the surprise deaths and telling the students and such."

"Did every teacher have to go?" James asked in an exasperated tone.

"They left you and Lily in charge. Obviously they didn't know that you had left with Emmeline."

"Obviously not," James muttered, already mentally revising his plan after this new factor.

He quickly realized that he didn't have time after Regulus fired a Reductor curse at Sirius which Sirius barely blocked.

James surveyed the damage already done by the duel and was relieved to find almost none. He should have known it was too good to last.

Watching the scene, James knew Sirius didn't want to use a curse on Regulus that would cause any lasting damage. It was painfully obvious when Sirius countered Regulus' curse with a strong disarming spell.

Regulus laughed hollowly at this. "Expelliarmus?" he scoffed. "Is that the best my _great, talented _brother can manage?"

James cringed and prayed to any god that was listening that Sirius wouldn't give in. Sirius smiled tightly. "No, Regulus. I just don't want to hurt you."

"You don't want to hurt me? You should be more frightened of me hurting you."

James groaned inwardly. This was getting worse and worse by the second. Thankfully, seconds later, Sirius fired a body-binding curse at his brother which Regulus dodged. The duel was on.

Regulus countered with the same spell. Sirius threw his body to the floor to avoid being hit and sprung back up, while shooting a well-aimed fire curse at Regulus.

Regulus' Slytherin tie briefly caught fire, but he quickly extinguished it with a wave of his wand. James eyes were frantically searching the crowd to find Lily's, but he couldn't make eye contact. When he finally did, he motioned nearly hysterically for her to stay where she was. She seemed to get the message because she stopped resisting Peter and Andrew's hold on her.

James knew it was time for him to step in. Regulus was momentarily distracted by the slight fire on his tie. "Alright, break it up."

Sirius looked up at James with a slightly relieved look in his eyes. James smiled slightly before turning to Regulus. He was shocked to find himself at wandpoint. "Don't move, Potter," Regulus snarled. "I know some nasty curses."

James swallowed discreetly. He hadn't bargained on Regulus trying to attack _him. _Why had he ever entered this mess without his wand drawn. Now he was in a very sticky situation indeed. He sighed silently.

Lily aimed a full body bind curse at Regulus. The boy dodged it and whirled around and tried to use an unforgivable on Lily but was silenced by someone in the crowd before he could get the curse off. The silencing charm was lifted, but the wasted time had given James the chance to get out of the situation. He would have to remember to thank Lily. He and Sirius both had their wands pointed at Regulus. Regulus rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath. James felt Sirius stiffen at his side and stuck his arm in front of Sirius to keep him from doing anything rash. "Don't bite."

James turned to Lily. "Lily, could you take Regulus to the headmaster's please? Everyone else clear out. Go back to your dormitories. There's nothing here for you to see. Sirius, can you help me fix these tables?"

Sirius nodded, and Lily moved toward Regulus. James and Sirius turned to fix the tables when a spell hit Sirius in the back. Sirius fell forward, and to his horror, James saw blood seeping through his best friend's robes. James whirled around. Lily already had Regulus in ropes. Most everyone had left. James shooed the remaining people out of the Great Hall before returning to Sirius. He looked even worse than he had when James had left him only moments before. The back of his black robes were stained completely blood red. Sirius' face was paling fast, and he was totally unconscious.

James levitated him and practically ran out of the Great Hall and toward the hospital wing. Olivia, Maggie, Morgan, Remus, Peter and Andrew hurried behind James. As they were leaving, James yelled to Lily to take Regulus to the headmaster.

When they reached the hospital wing two floors above them, James literally kicked the door down and stormed through the entrance. "What is wrong with you?" Madam Pomfrey's shrill voice echoed through the room. "This is a medical institution and you just come…" her voice trailed off as she bustled around the corner and saw Sirius' limp body hovering in mid-air behind James.

"Hurry, hurry, get him on a bed," she commanded James. James carefully lowered his friend onto the bed and then stepped back to let Madam Pomfrey do her work. As she bustled around Sirius' bed, James slapped Remus on the shoulder. "I have to go help Lily out with Regulus. Keep a watch on Padfoot here. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Remus nodded. "I'll do my best," he answered, looking at James with bright eyes.

James noticed this. "Don't worry," he reassured Remus. "He'll be okay. He's going to be just fine."

Remus nodded again. "I hope so."

"You have to think more positively than that. He _will _be alright."

"I'll try," Remus promised.

James smiled grimly and glanced around before leaving. "And, Remus," he said, grinning fully this time, "Keep an eye on Maggie."

The two boys glanced over at her, and Maggie was horror-struck. Her eyes had taken on a distant, shocked expression, and she was staring straight ahead without actually seeing anything. Remus nodded for the third time, and James patted him one more time on the shoulder before leaving.

James couldn't believe the events of the night. He was exhausted, and he still had a million things to do before he could even justify thinking about sleeping. Yawning, he mentally ran over everything that had happened in the past six hours. He and Lily had returned happily from Hogsmeade together, he had almost kissed her, and from that point on, everything had gone downhill. Emmeline's family had been murdered, and James had just finished dealing with that when Sirius and Regulus got into their own family spat. He glanced at his watch. It was already 10:30 at night.

He sighed as he mounted another staircase toward Professor Dumbledore's office. If—no _when_—Sirius woke up, he was going to be so upset about Regulus. If there hadn't been confirmation of Regulus' support of Voldemort before, there certainly was now. Despite his general enmity for his family, Sirius had always hoped that Regulus would turn out okay, and now it was evident that he wasn't going to.

James sighed again. He contemplated how many times he had sighed that evening as he gave the password to the gargoyle and rode up the spiral staircase. Knocking on Professor Dumbledore's door, he decided that he had sighed way too many times that night. He had a feeling that the sighing, just like the worrying, wasn't over yet. "Enter," Professor Dumbledore's voice sounded through the door of the office. James pushed the huge door open with considerable effort and crossed the room to sit next to Lily. Regulus was seated on his other side, no longer tied up, but sulking noticeably. James figured there was something that Professor Dumbledore had employed to keep Regulus from escaping.

"Ah, Mr. Potter, thank you for joining us."

James smiled sheepishly. "Sorry I was late, Professor. I had to take Sirius to the hospital wing."

"Yes, well, I'm sure that was necessary. Miss Evans got young Mr. Black here without an issue."

"I'm glad," James said, smiling over at Lily.

Professor Dumbledore's face took on a new expression as he turned to Regulus. "Mr. Black, I'd like to hear your side of the story first."

Regulus sunk down lower in his chair and didn't answer. Professor Dumbledore sighed but kept his piercing blue gaze on Regulus' face.

"Mr. Black, I'm giving you the opportunity to talk. Whether or not you take it is your decision."

Regulus wiggled in his chair as though he was trying to convince it to swallow him up. His mouth stayed firmly shut in a thin line.

"Mr. Black, this is your last chance," Professor Dumbledore said, his patience evidently wearing thin. "If you don't speak now, I'll have to get the story from Mr. Potter and Miss Evans. It is your decision."

"My brother and I got into a disagreement," Regulus muttered so quietly that they almost couldn't hear him. James had to contain a snort of sarcastic laughter.

"What did you disagree about?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"The Vances," Regulus said.

"What about the Vances?" Professor Dumbledore pressed, trying to prod deeper.

Regulus was done talking, despite all his efforts, Professor Dumbledore could not convince Regulus to say one more word. Finally after several minutes' worth of attempts, Professor Dumbledore turned to James and Lily.

"Alright, could one of you tell me what happened please?"

Lily spoke up. "After Emmeline and James left the Great Hall, Sirius got really upset about all the attacks that have been happening." She glanced over at James.

"He feels like he should be doing more," James supplied. "Since his family is involved, Sirius wishes he could counter that by being more involved on our side."

Lily nodded. "Well, anyway, he was saying how awful it was and all this other stuff, and just as he was finishing complaining and starting to cool off, Bellatrix Black came up behind us. She started teasing Sirius about his involvement with you, Professor, and his avoidance of Lord Voldemort."

Next to Lily, James cringed. He knew how much Sirius hated his family. He was sure that it wasn't good.

Lily continued. "Well, after Bellatrix left, Sirius got up and walked over to the Slytherin table. He started talking to his brother. I'm not really sure what he said, but soon they were both standing with their wands drawn. Then Sirius challenged Regulus to a duel. Regulus said yes and they started to fight. It quickly became obvious that the tables and people were in the way. Regulus bullied the other students into leaving or backing against the wall to watch, while Sirius smashed the tables against the wall. I was trying to break up the fight, but Andrew and Peter were holding me back. I'm glad they did. Sirius and Regulus both have terrible tempers."

"At that point I came in," James picked up the story from Lily. "When I got back from taking Emmeline to her dormitory, Sirius and Regulus were facing off in the middle of the student circle. Curses were thrown at that point. Regulus started the duel with a Reductor curse. Sirius tried to use harmless spells that would stop Regulus from attacking him without hurting Regulus."

"James and I managed to break up the fight," Lily said. "But when I thought I had Regulus under control to bring him up here, he turned around and used a cutting curse on Sirius."

"I figured it wasn't over at that point," Professor Dumbledore said with a sarcastic smile. James was slightly shocked. He had never even imagined that the poised professor had this side to him. Professor Dumbledore was letting his guard down in front of James more than he ever had before. This was off-putting to James, but he was glad. It was much easier to work with the man when he was straight forward. Certainly, Dumbledore's avoidance of his normal cryptic behavior was welcome. "What happened next?" Professor Dumbledore asked, breaking into James' reverie.

"Sirius said something so quietly under his breath that even, I, who was standing right next to him, couldn't hear it, but Regulus thought he did. That's what happened to cause Regulus to curse Sirius. So we made everyone go back to their common rooms and then I brought Sirius to the hospital wing and Lily brought Regulus up here."

Lily nodded. Professor Dumbledore leaned back in his chair and interlaced his fingers on his desk. "Okay." For the first time in over a quarter of an hour, Professor Dumbledore turned back to Regulus. The Slytherin was red and sunk low in his chair. "Is there anything you want to say, Mr. Black?"

Regulus nodded and straightened. "Yes. Professor, all the things Potter and Evans said are true. I'm so sorry. I just lost control. Sirius picked the fight. He said that I'd been involved with the deaths. I wasn't. It just made me so mad that he accused me of that when I wasn't involved."

* * *

James was not happy. Twenty minutes later, he and Lily left the headmaster's office with their meeting over. Regulus had been banned from Hogsmeade for the rest of the year, had 100 points taken away from Slytherin and been given a month's worth of detention with Professor McGonagall. He didn't think that this was punishment enough for Regulus' actions, and Lily was hearing about it. "Lily, don't you understand?" he asked exasperatedly. "That curse that Regulus used _should _be unforgivable." 

"James, what did you want? For him to be expelled?" Lily asked exasperatedly. "Honestly, I think you're overreacting. He got quite the punishment."

"Everyone knows he's a death eater. Anyway, that was a totally cheap attack on Sirius."

"James, you can't expel someone on pure speculation. There is no proof that he's a death eater."

James released a long breath. "I know, but it's just so stupid."

"Look," Lily said. "Why don't we go and see how Sirius is doing?"

"I have to do some stuff, like homework."

"Okay," Lily said. "I'll come with you."

"You don't have to," James said. "You can go see your friends or Sirius or whatever."

"No, I have some work to do too."

"Suit yourself," James muttered nearly silently under his breath.

While James and Lily were in the heads' common room, Remus was pacing the hall outside the hospital wing. Maggie, Morgan, Olivia and Andrew were sitting on the floor, and Peter had disappeared somewhere. Remus didn't really care where. About an hour or so previously, Madam Pomfrey had kicked him out of the hospital wing, along with the others. So now, he and the others were left to speculate on Sirius' condition. He and Maggie were both worried sick about him, and Morgan, Olivia and Andrew were right behind them.

Sirius had been in bad shape when Remus, Andrew and the girls had been kicked out. His robes had been removed, and his back was so bloody that Remus was sure that it was forever stained red. Remus inhaled deeply. It was unquestionable that Remus was stressed out about Sirius. He wondered where James was. Remus was exhausted. Most of the time he was fine, content to be solitary, but at times like these, he sometimes felt lost with James or Sirius at his side. James always had insightful words of comfort to offer, and Sirius could lighten the mood. Remus sighed. He couldn't believe how lucky he was to have James and Sirius.

Remus looked at his friends' faces, all of which were etched with worry. They all loved Sirius for his humor and his ability for seriousness when necessary. He sat down next to Maggie who looked as scared as he felt. Remus put a platonic arm around Maggie, trying to fill the comforting role James usually held. "Mags, it'll be okay."

"Will it be?" Maggie asked, turning tear-filled eyes to Remus' face. "It's so unfair. It's not like his life is easy, and add in Regulus and Sirius has a mess. How is that fair to him?"

Remus sighed. He was not nearly as good as James at the comforting role. He wished that James would show up. Anyway, who would want to be comforted by him? He was a monster. A hairy, nasty, disgusting, cruel monster. That's why he wasn't as good at this as James. James was normal. In fact, James was well-liked around the school, good-looking, intelligent and most of all, still human on the night of the full moon.

What would Remus ever have done without James and Sirius? They dealt with his stories, guessed his condition, stuck with him once they found out and became illegal animagi, risking going to prison and much worse in that decision, all for him. Would he, Remus, have done the same thing in their position? Was he loyal, brave, strong, kind enough to do something like that? Sitting there with his arm around Maggie, Remus wondered these things for many minutes until he heard footsteps coming around the corner. After the day's events, Remus was incredibly cautious, paranoid even; he jumped up and drew his wand, training it on the place where a person would round the corner. He had never been so relieved to see James and Lily in his life.

He placed his wand back in his pocket and strode forward toward James. Seeing James almost made Remus laugh. He thought of the inferior thoughts he had been having not 10 minutes before. James would call it an inferiority complex and laugh that he, Remus and Sirius would never abandon one another. The Marauders didn't leave one another behind. They stuck up for one another through everything.

Remus liked to be independent. He didn't like how much he depended on the Marauders, particularly James and Sirius. He knew the dependence was not good. The closer he got to James and Sirius, the more heartbroken he would be if something happened. He sighed and smiled at James.

"Hey Moony," James greeted him. "What's up? How's Sirius?"

Remus looked at James levelly. "I don't really know. Madam Pomfrey kicked us out of the hospital wing about two hours ago."

James sighed and looked at Lily who looked eager to go talk to her friends. "Go see how Maggie's doing, Lily. Remus and I will be over in a second."

She nodded and hurried over to her friends and was immediately engaged in conversation with the other girls and Andrew. James turned back to Remus. "So you have no idea what's happening?"

"None," Remus answered. "She won't let us in. What happened with Regulus?"

As James relayed the story of the long meeting in Dumbledore's office with Regulus and Lily, he decided that he and Remus were going to have to tell Sirius pretty soon after he woke up.

"If Sirius wakes up—" James finished.

"No, when Sirius wakes up," Remus corrected. Sirius was too much his brother for him to be permanently injured. That would break Remus' heart, not to mention James', who was Sirius' best friend, and Maggie's, who had just started dating him today. What awful things to happen on the day of a first date.

Remus was about to respond when he was cut off by a shriek from one of the girls. Remus and James whirled around to look at them. Standing in the doorway was Madam Pomfrey. For once she looked like she actually cared about their worry for their friend. "I'm sorry," she said and Maggie cried out again. James sunk to his knees with his head in his hands.

"No," James said. "No, you must be wrong. He'll be okay."

"I'm sorry," Madam Pomfrey said again. "We'll have to move him to St. Mungo's. It doesn't look good right now."

James pulled himself up with great effort and walked over to Maggie, whose distraught was written all over her face. He offered her a hand to stand up, and she accepted it. He pulled her into a comforting hug.

She buried her face in his shoulder and cried big tears. James stroked her hair and whispered ambiguous words of comfort in her ear. Maggie didn't calm down for a long time. When she did, James discovered that the others had left him. He pulled away slightly, and she wiped embarrassedly at her eyes. "I'm sorry for going to pieces like that," she said.

"It's alright," James responded immediately. "Don't worry about it. Look, why don't you come up to our dormitory and borrow a shirt or something of Sirius' to remind you of him."

Maggie nodded, and he grasped her hand to lead her to the common room. They walked in almost complete silence, only their footsteps and Maggie's hiccupping breaking the absolute peace. James wondered how the night could be so perfect when their lives were falling apart around them. Shouldn't there have been a few raindrops or at the very least a storm cloud?

James sighed. That wasn't the way the world worked. When they reached the common room, James led Maggie to the girls' stairs. "Hey, are you going to be okay?"

Maggie hesitated and then nodded tearfully.

"Good," James said. "Go on up to your room and send Lily down."

Maggie nodded and walked slowly up the stairs. Once she had rounded the corner and disappeared out of sight, James sunk down onto the couch and put his head in his hands. How could this have happened? He was just starting to get over his dad and then Sirius got hurt. James couldn't see the logic. Last year Liz had died, and as he had been getting over that, his father was hurt. Then his father had died, and he was coming to terms with it just to find out the Sirius needed to be sent to St. Mungo's.

James swiped angrily at his eyes, trying to blink back unwelcome tears. He didn't want to cry about this, especially with Lily coming down. He'd already broken down on her once in the year, and he didn't plan to do it again. He heard Lily's footsteps coming down the staircase and sat up straight. She came into view looking tired.

"Hey James," she said, weariness evident in her voice. "Maggie told me you wanted to talk."

"Yeah," James told her. "I was just too wired to sleep, and I could think of anyone else to talk to."

"It's fine," Lily smiled. "I was just with the girls. Morgan was comforting Maggie, and Olivia was freaking out about the match tomorrow."

"What match?" James asked.

"The Quidditch match, captain," Lily said, grinning. "Liv was wondering how she could play with this on her mind."

"Quidditch!" James exclaimed. "Shit. I forgot about the match. She's right. It's going to be impossible to play with this on my mind. There's so much to worry about."

"Liv was worried for you," Lily said. "She said that she would be step in as captain, and you could use a reserve chaser if you wanted to spend the day at St. Mungo's."

"No, that's okay. I'll just tell Ethan to catch the snitch really fast and then spend the rest of the day at St. Mungo's. How's Maggie?"

"She's okay. Or she will be. She understands that while she really liked Sirius she had only been going out with him for a day."

"Yeah, but still," James said sympathetically. "And what an awful thing to happen on your first date."

"Yeah, it's pretty bad, but hopefully Maggie will be okay soon. Do you know if we can visit Sirius tomorrow?"

"I think so."

"Okay," Lily yawned hugely. "Well, I'm exhausted. I'm off to bed." She began toward the stairs.

James watched her go. As she was about to round the corner on the stairs, he had a sudden inexplicable urge to talk to her. "Lily, wait," he nearly shouted.

Lily turned around and looked back down at him. "Yeah?"

"Uh, well, I was just wondering, will you, uh," James stuttered along, quickly losing nerve. "Will you, uh, be at the Quidditch match tomorrow?"

Lily looked at him strangely, and James swore he saw disappointment in her face. He shook it off, sure that his imagination was playing tricks on him. "Yes, I'll be there. Good night, James."

"'Night, Lily," he muttered, so ashamed of himself he could barely look her in the eye. He was such a coward. Sometimes, he couldn't even stand being in the same room as himself. And as far as he could tell, that was a problem.

* * *

The next morning dawned sunny and clear. It was perfect Quidditch weather. The sun seeped into the boys' dormitory through the curtains and woke James up almost immediately after daybreak. He squinted against the sunlight and rolled over. He buried his face in his pillow and tried to go to sleep since it was only 5:21 in the morning. Not ten minutes later he decided that his effort was fruitless. He got out of bed and pulled on a pair of muggle sweatpants and a t-shirt before wandering down to the Great Hall, wondering if breakfast was even served this early. He entered the Great Hall and was not surprised to see the Hall empty except for one person sitting at the Hufflepuff table. It was one of their prefects: Courtney Hallett. He decided he'd sit with her. He hadn't had a talk with a girl who didn't know Lily well in a long time. He could use some perspective.

He sauntered up to the Hufflepuff table in a way reminiscent of his old self. As he reached Courtney, he decided that he didn't want to ever saunter again. He knew why he no longer did those types of things. "Hey Court," he sighed, sitting down across the table from her.

She looked up and smiled. "James, hi. What brings you over to the land of the badger?"

"Why am I here at the Hufflepuff table? Well, I needed your advice and you fit the bill."

"Alright, what's up?"

"I, well, I like," he hesitated. He had never imagined this would be so hard to say. I like someone."

Courtney smiled slightly. "Red hair? Green eyes? Gryffindor? Head Girl? Any of these attributes ring a bell?"

James turned bright red and looked down at his fidgeting hands. "Yeah, they do."

"All of them?" Courtney was smiling widely now.

"Yeah, all of them," James muttered.

"So, you like Lily Evans and you don't know what to do about it."

"Pretty much," James agreed, finally looking Courtney in the eye.

"Have you told her?" Courtney asked as though she were speaking to a three year old child.

"No," James scoffed. "She'd probably slap me again."

"I don't think she would," Courtney said, looking uncomfortable for the first time in the entire conversation.

James shifted in his chair and looked around the Great Hall uncomfortably. He scratched the back of his head. The Great Hall was filling up quickly. What time was it?

"I really don't think she would," Courtney said again, looking up at James.

"Really?" James asked. "I don't want to be shot down again, Court. I don't think I can handle it. Lily's killed all my confidence."

"Ask her. See what happens. Okay?"

James nodded. "Okay. Do you know what time it is?"

"6:09."

"Thanks," James nodded again and stood. He walked a couple of steps and then seemed to remember something. He turned around and retraced his steps back toward Courtney.

"Hey, Court, I forgot to ask: Why are you up so early anyway?"

"I couldn't sleep. I'm sorry about Sirius."

"You already heard?" James asked in disbelief.

"It's been all around the school. I hope he's okay."

"Thanks," James said. "For everything. You've been great, Court. I mean it; you're the most supportive ex-girlfriend I've ever had. I'm so glad we're still friends, and I'm not trying to be all cliché. I really am glad."

"I glad too," Court said, smiling and touching his hand. "You're a great guy. You're great to talk to. Go after Lily and tell me how it goes, okay?"

James nodded. "Definitely, Court. Thanks." He leaned over and kissed her cheek and then walked away.

He promised himself that he would ask Lily out as soon as he could. He needed to see if she would date him before some other, probably more worthy guy, got to her. He went out the Quidditch pitch to fly around. Flying cleared his head.

* * *

At 10:55, James and his team could be found in the locker room, broken off into cliques, something they'd never done before. The tension was mounting and James could cut it with a knife. As he looked around, Olivia and Morgan were clumped together, as were Dylan, Ethan and Johnny. He was pacing in silence, and Bridget was sitting in the corner of the locker room by herself. This was ridiculous. His team was incredibly close, so why were they so fragmented today? Of all the days they could have chosen to not get along, the day of the first match of the season was not a good choice. 

He sighed and turned to his team. "Alright, Liv, you and Morgan need to split up. Johnny, sit between Olivia and Bridget. Ethan, sit between Bridget and Morgan. Dylan, sit on the opposite side of Morgan from Johnny. I don't know what's with you guys today, but it needs to end. We've always been a united team, and now, all of sudden, we've retracted into natural cliques. Liv and Morgan, you two paired off, as did the three of you, Johnny, Dylan and Ethan, and we all left Bridget sitting by herself, probably worried sick since it's her first Quidditch match.

"I never want to see those cliques again. Now, onto the things I was originally going to talk about. I'm sure that you've all heard about my best friend, Sirius', duel with his brother, Regulus. Sirius has been moved to St. Mungo's in London. They think he'll be okay." At that point, James was lying flat out to his team, but that was what they needed to hear. "Morgan, Liv and I would like to go visit him with our other friends after the match today, so Ethan catch as fast as you can. Let's win it for Sirius!"

The team cheered enthusiastically and Madam Hooch stuck her head in to usher them out. "Come on, Potter. Let's go."

"We're coming, Madam," he said. His team followed him out. As they exited the locker rooms, a blanket of deafening boos descended over them. James looked across and saw the Slytherins lined up at the middle of the pitch. Davey Gudgeon's voice filled the pitch, drowning out even the loud booing of the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. "First we have the Slytherins! Chasers Nott, Smith and Zabini, keeper Miller, beaters Goyle and Flint and seeker and Captain Malfoy," Davey paused dramatically and then raised his voice even more.

"And now for the Gryffindors!" He paused again and allowed the cheering to hit maximum level. Finally shouting over the screaming, he continued, "We have seeker Ethan Burns, beaters Dylan Finch and Johnny Parker, keeper Olivia Chase and chasers Morgan Browne, Bridget McEnberg and Captain James Potter." The cheering eclipsed its previous maximum as the crowd screamed for the Gryffindor team. James grinned and waved to the crowd before turning to Madam Hooch. "I want a nice fair game," she said, turning her eyes to each player in turn, "from all of you. Captains, shake hands."

It was obvious to anyone watching that Malfoy tried to break James' fingers, while James grimly returned the favor. "Mount your brooms," Madam Hooch instructed, quaffle in hand. "3…2…1," she blew her whistle and threw the quaffle in the air. As James swooped forward and grabbed it, Madam Hooch released the bludgers, which the Slytherin beaters got to and whacked at James, and the snitch, which disappeared immediately after its release.

James, meanwhile, was streaking toward the hoop. As he approached, he threw it, passing to Morgan. The throw, however, flew high over Morgan's head and into the hands of Nott. James swore and spun around to defend. The Slytherins flew down the pitch. "Nott passes to Zabini who shoots from 15 out. Great save by Chase of Gryffindor. Chase throws it to Potter, and it drops through his hands! What is wrong with Potter today? He's normally the most reliable. Smith of Slytherin recovers the quaffle and shoots again. Chase knocks it away with one hand. Browne gets the quaffle and starts up the pitch. She passes to the new chaser, third-year Bridget McEnberg, who cleanly catches the quaffle. And, nice duck McEnberg!"

James breathed out a sigh of relief as Bridget managed to duck the bludger whistling past her head. She passed the quaffle back to Morgan. He was wide open, while Morgan was double teamed. He called for the ball. Morgan looked over at him but shot instead. Miraculously, the quaffle went through the far right hoop. "Great shot by Browne!" Davey contributed, "and the score is 10-0, Gryffindor."

James swore. Why weren't his teammates passing to him? He was the best chaser on the team. Probably because he kept dropping it. Another five minutes passed during which Gryffindor scored twice more and the Slytherin seeker almost caught the snitch but was knocked off course by a bludger hit by Dylan. The score was 30-0 in Gryffindor's favor. Forty minutes later the score was 50-0. Normally in an hour the Gryffindors scored around 100 points, but without James, they weren't nearly as good. The longer the match stretched on, the less concentrated James became. Finally an hour and a half after the first whistle, Olivia made a save and beckoned James over to her. They were a disaster. They hadn't scored in over 90 minutes. "You need to call a timeout. We're falling apart."

James nodded. Madam Hooch was already looking over at them, wondering what the delay was. "Time-out!" he shouted.

The Gryffindors convened on the ground near the base of Olivia's goalposts. "Did you want to say something, Liv?" James asked wearily.

"Yeah, I did. We're falling apart, and no offense, but it's mostly because of you, James. I understand that you're distracted because of Sirius. I'm sure he's fine, and you'll see him after the game anyway. For now, you need to relax and focus on Quidditch. Morgan and Bridget are both really good chasers, but you're future pro, James. If you concentrate, we're invincible. So, just try and focus on what we're doing. That's what Sirius would want." James nodded. Olivia turned to face the rest of the group. "You're all doing great. Beaters, you're doing a fantastic job distracting the chasers, and you kept them from catching the snitch early on. Chasers, you're doing great. You scored 50 points playing basically one man down. I expect us to explode on them now that James is with you."

They nodded, and the whole team except James and Olivia kicked off. James hugged Olivia quickly before kicking off. "Thanks, Liv, I needed that."

Olivia smiled and agreed.

The match began again, and in the next 20 minutes, James scored 50 points and Morgan and Bridget each had 30, raising the score to 160-10. They were up by exactly 150 points. Morgan had the quaffle as the seekers went into a simultaneous dive. They were neck and neck. The tension was building, as was Davey Gudgeon's voice. The Slytherins had both bludgers. One was hit at Ethan as he dove, while the other was hit at Morgan. The Gryffindor beaters were frozen in fear, watching the bludgers fly toward the two players that were most important at that moment of the game. Suddenly Morgan seemed to have a revelation. She sprung into action. Seeing that she couldn't avoid being hit by the bludger, she threw the quaffle to Bridget, who passed it to James. While the quaffle was being thrown to James, two sickening crunches were heard as Morgan and Ethan were struck by bludgers. James heard Davey Gudgeon's voice. "Potter with the quaffle, in shooting range, but Malfoy is within 4 feet of the snitch. Potter releases the ball, and now Malfoy is within 2 feet of the snitch. POTTER SCORES! MALFOY CATCHES THE SNITCH! Merlin, James Potter scores just before the Lucius Malfoy catches the snitch, and Gryffindor wins, 170-160!"

James felt Bridget collapse on him, soon followed by Olivia, Dylan and Johnny. They celebrated and screamed in pure ecstasy for a moment before they all, seemingly simultaneously, remembered their fallen teammates. They pulled apart and dove for the ground. The sight was jaw-dropping.


	6. Shocking Developments

**A/N: I'm so sorry it took me so long to update, but I couldn't avoid it. I hit kind of a crisis, and it has since been averted, but I had to stop writing for a while. It's all good now, and I promise updates will be more frequent. Thank you. Please review, as always. **

**Chapter 6: Shocking Developments**

While James and his team were celebrating, Lily, Maggie and the other three Marauders were watching Morgan's immobile body in terror.

"Is she going to be okay?" Remus asked, clearly the most shaken up by the incident.

"I hope so," Lily said, looking almost equally agitated.

Remus sighed and ran a hand over his face before standing on tiptoe to try and get a better look at Morgan. "Remus, is she going to be okay?" Veronica asked, tugging impatiently on his sleeve.

He whirled around. "I don't know," he snapped. "I certainly hope so."

"Me too," Veronica said sweetly. "I just don't know what I'd do if something happened to Morgan."

Remus barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. "Yes, I don't think any of us do."

Remus looked at his friends quizzically. Lily was clutching her hair tightly with one hand and Maggie's hand with the other. Peter and Andrew looked mostly lost. Remus dropped into his seat and put his head into his hands. "God, I hope she's alright."

By this point, Veronica was livid, and she let Remus know. "God, Remus, you could at least pretend to not care so much about Morgan until after you've dumped me!"

"Veronica, no!" Remus said, jumping to his defense a little too quickly. "Morgan's just a friend. I don't like her in that way."

"That's not true," Veronica said, staring him levelly in the eye. She didn't sound angry, but defeated. "I've known all year, but you were sending mixed signals. One day I was sure you were totally into Morgan, and the next you did something really sweet for me, so you can understand why I was so confused."

"I'm sorry, Veronica," Remus said, admitting defeat. "I know that it wasn't fair for me to lead you on like this. I treated you like trash."

Veronica shrugged. "It's okay. I've done it to guys before. Good luck with Morgan." She looked up with a small, sad smile. "I really mean that."

"Thanks," Remus said.

Veronica smiled a tiny, little smile again and walked off. Remus turned to Lily and Maggie. "Did I handle that okay? I'm petrified of breaking girls' hearts."

"You were great," Lily reassured. "I'd go into more detail, but right now I'm really worried about Morgan. I wish we could go down there."

Maggie looked around at the almost empty stands. "Who's going to stop us? Those kids are down there around Ethan. Let's go. Anyway, Lils, you're head girl. Shouldn't you be able to get us down there?"

Lily grinned. "Yeah, you're probably right. Let's go."

Lily led the others down the many stairs to the bottom of the stands. Naturally on the one day their friend got hurt they had gotten the best seats in the stadium—at the very top of the stands.

They eventually reached the ground, and Lily led them across the pitch toward James. She was the first to reach him, followed closely by Sirius and then the others. She quickly laid a hand on his back and stood next to him, speaking quietly. "How are they?" she asked, withdrawing her hand once she had attracted James' attention.

James looked down at Lily and smiled slightly. "Well, according to Madam Pomfrey, they both deserve whatever they get because they play this sport. From the looks of it, though, Ethan's worse off, which is strange because he was much closer to the ground."

"I heard up in the stands that Professor Dumbledore softened Morgan's fall though."

"Madam Pomfrey said that Morgan's just knocked out," James supplied to the group, looking directly at Remus. "She'll have to stay a night in the hospital wing, but she'll be just fine by tomorrow morning."

"That's good since I just dumped my girlfriend for her," Remus said with a slightly sarcastic smile.

James shot Remus a confused look and turned back to Madam Pomfrey who was checking Ethan's injuries.

Lily let her eyes run over Morgan's body. She lay spread-eagle on the grass, but other than that looked like she was taking a nap on the Quidditch pitch.

On the other hand, Ethan looked horrendous. He too was unconscious, but he didn't give off the impression that he was asleep. His right arm was stuck at an unnatural angle, sticking away from his body at the elbow, while his left knee was terribly swollen and looked distorted. His left eye was blackened, and blood was trickling from just above his left temple. "Yikes," Lily said, looking at James again. "Ethan doesn't look too good."

James glanced from Lily's face to Ethan then settled his gaze on Lily again before sighing. "Yeah, I know. It's not good. I think I'm going to have to find another seeker."

Lily looked up at him sympathetically. Correctly interpreting her expression, James sighed. "Sometimes you just catch breaks like these. We'll make it. At this point we just have to hope that he can get back to functioning the way a 15 year old boy should. That knee looks nasty, and you always have to tread carefully around head injuries. Do you want to see if you can get Remus to take Morgan on up to the hospital wing? She has to stay there until she wakes up and then for another night just to make sure she's okay, and then will you, uh, stay with me?" James stuttered the last part uncertainly.

Lily smiled. "Of course," she said, before turning and telling Remus what he was to do. "Remus, hey."

Remus turned and looked at her.

"James wants you to take Morgan to the hospital wing. Do you think you could?"

Remus nodded and pulled out his wand. "Definitely."

"Remus!" James said, making sure his friend didn't leave. "Come back once you're done. Maggie, Lily, Liv, you and I will go visit Sirius as soon as I'm done here."

"Mags, Liv, you guys go on up to the dormitories so Liv can change and meet back down here," James said. The girls nodded and left.

James turned to Madam Pomfrey and Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore. "I'll be right back. I would like to know what's up with Ethan, but I need to speak to Lily for a moment."

James met Dumbledore's eyes and saw a twinkle in them. Did he know why James needed to speak to Lily?

James led Lily over to the lake, and they sat down under the giant beech tree next to the lake. "What's up, James? Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, everything's fine, Lil. I just wanted to talk to you. I don't know how many times I've wanted to ask you this so far this year, but with everything that's been happening recently, I can't wait anymore. I saw what happened to Maggie on her first date with Sirius. She had wanted that for so long, and when she finally got it, the day turned out to be horrible. I can't bear to think about something like that happening to you before we got the chance to date, if you'll agree obviously. Lily, will you please go out with me?"

Lily looked at James, shocked by his heartfelt speech. A nervous expression was playing across James' face, but he was meeting Lily's gaze levelly. Only when the nervous expression changed into one of total disappointment and sadness did Lily realize that she still hadn't answered James. She shook her head quickly and looked directly into James' eyes. "Of course I'll go out with you, James. I've been waiting all year to hear you ask that."

James smiled and reached out to touch her face quickly. "Thank you, Lily. This means a lot to me."

"It means a lot to me, too, James," Lily told him, smiling. "I want you to know that. I want this to work just as much as you do."

James grinned at her. "That's good. As much as I'm enjoying this conversation, and I am, I have to get back and see how Ethan's doing."

"Okay," Lily smiled. "That's fine. You _are_ his captain, after all."

* * *

A little over an hour later, James Potter and Lily Evans appeared in the lobby of St. Mungo's with two small pops. James sighed and ran a hand over his face, knocking his glasses askew. He fixed them, and he and Lily approached the desk. A perky brunette witch greeted them with a smile that James had no desire to see. "Name of patient?" she asked in a friendly voice. 

"Sirius Black," James told her, tiredly.

"Sirius Black, Sirius Black, Sirius Black," she repeated, shuffling some papers and tracing several lines with her right pointer finger. "Ah, here he is. It says family only."

"Are you two family of his?" the woman asked.

James nodded, hoping to get away without giving his or Lily's names. No such luck.

"Your names, please?" the receptionist smiled.

James cursed under his breath but turned an understanding smile to the witch, practically making her melt. "James and Lily Black, we're his brother and sister."

"Neither of you look like Blacks," the receptionist grinned.

"Adopted," James told her through tightly clenched teeth.

"Never thought the Blacks were much for adoption, or children in general," the witch commented conversationally.

"Learn something new everyday," James muttered, before Lily clamped a hand over his mouth and turned, smiling, to the witch. "He and Sirius are very close. James is just worried about him. Could you please tell us Sirius' room number?"

The woman nodded, for the time looking intimidated. "407. He's in the Humphrey K. Pellwater ward for reversible spell damage."

Lily and James nodded and hurried off before the woman could stop them. Quickly ascending the four necessary flights of stairs, James and Lily were soon standing with their noses to Sirius' door. James sighed and placed his hand on the door knob. Before he could open it, though, he felt Lily's hand on top of his. He looked down at her to his right. She smiled at him. "Go on, you can do it."

James smiled weakly and twisted the door-knob. There was a chart posted on the wall, magically keeping track of the spells Sirius was on. James surveyed it and staggered back as he saw the green line labeled "life support." "

"It's alright, Prongs," a voice said in a whisper. "The healer said it was just a precaution while they give me more blood."

"Padfoot?" James spun around. "Merlin, Sirius, you gave us such a scare."

Sirius blinked, and his face twitched as if he was trying to smile. "Sorry," he whispered. "I can't really move, other than to talk."

"That's okay," James said, his voice nearly cracking from his relief. He sat down next to Sirius in a plastic chair. Lily stood uncertainly off to the side, letting the boys have their moment.

"Maggie?" Sirius asked. "Is she okay?"

"She will be," James promised. "Right, Lil?"

Lily turned at the use of her name. "Huh?"

"Maggie will be alright, won't she?" James prodded.

"Yeah, yeah. Once she knows you'll be okay, she'll be great."

"You will be okay, won't you?" James asked.

"He'll be fine," a new voice said. James looked up to see a young man with black hair, a black beard and startlingly blue eyes wearing lime green robes enter. The man approached James as he stood. "James Potter," James introduced himself. "This is my girlfriend Lily Evans."

"Girlfriend?" Sirius whispered from the bed, but no one heard him.

"James Potter? I'm John O'Leary. I was the intern with Marie Corriveau on your father's case."

"Yes, I remember you," James said with a smile. "I don't have many fond memories from that day, I'm afraid."

"Understandable," Healer O'Leary said with a smile.

"What's up with Sirius, Healer O'Leary?" Lily asked.

"Please call me John. You too, James. As for Sirius, he should be just fine in two or so weeks. He lost an incredible amount of blood. Was it you who brought him to the hospital wing at Hogwarts, James?" At James' nod, he continued. "It's lucky you brought him when you did. Another 15-20 minutes and we probably wouldn't have been able to save Sirius. He can't seem to remember exactly what happened, though. Do you think you could fill me in?"

"Absolutely," James assured him. "He got into a duel with his brother and was hit with a Cutting Curse when he back was turned. It was very severe, and he lost a lot of blood very fast. We got him to the hospital wing within five minutes of when he was hit. I believe his brother hit at least two arteries."

"There were four sheared arteries when he arrived here."

James cringed. "That's rough." He turned to look at Sirius who was glaring at him.

"Girlfriend?" he whispered, accusatorily. "And you didn't tell me the first second you got in here."

"I'm sorry," James said. "I had more important things on my mind. Like, I don't know, whether or not you were _alive._"

"Fine," Sirius said, but he turned a pouting face on James. James grinned, glad that he was at least acting normal.

James and Lily stayed chatting with Sirius for over an hour before James finally stood and stretched. "Well, we should get going," he told Sirius, glancing at his watch. "I want to send Maggie over before it's after hours." He thought for a moment, before softly swearing, and continuing. "Plus, I really should check on Morgan and Ethan."

"Morgan and Ethan?" Sirius asked, confused. "Why do you need to check on them?"

"They both got hurt during the match today, particularly Ethan."

"The match!" Sirius exclaimed. "Who won?"

"We did," James assured him. "But thank Merlin it finished when it did. We were down to 5 players at the end."

"Okay," Sirius said. "Well, run along to check on your team, and send Maggie here. I can't wait to see her."

"She's the same way," Lily told Sirius with a grin, following James out.  
They were walking down the hall of the ward when they ran into John O'Leary. "John," James called out, striding quickly toward the slightly older man.

"James, is everything okay?"

"Sirius is fine, but I had a question for you."

"Shoot," John said.

"I'm the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team at Hogwarts, and we had a match today, during which our seeker and one of our chasers went down. The chaser should be fine. She's tough, and it wasn't too long a fall. It's my seeker that I'm worried about. His injury looked pretty bad. Do you think that if he gets transferred here you could look at him?"

"I don't see why not," John told him, apparently thinking. "He probably wouldn't be placed in this ward, but I work off-ward quite a bit. Tell me his name."

"Ethan Burns."

"Alright, floo me at 12 Cherry Lane if he is transferred, and I'll do my best to get on the case, but I don't have too much authority since I just became a healer."

"Okay, thanks, John," James said gratefully.

"No problem." The two men shook hands and went their separate ways.

* * *

Maggie Correnti shot up from the hard plastic chair in the hospital wing. "James Potter!" she demanded, as the Head Boy entered. "Where have you been? I've been left here to look after your unconscious Quidditch players." 

James grinned, slightly. "I'm sorry, Maggie."

"Where were you?" she asked.

"St. Mungo's," James told her without preamble. "Sirius is okay. Why don't you go visit him. He's in room 407. He'd be ecstatic to see you."

Maggie smiled and threw her arms around James. "Thank you, thank you, _thank you._ You're the best."

James smiled and called after her. "Send Lily in, please."

"Of course," Maggie laughed over her shoulder. "We wouldn't want you to be bored, now would we?"

"Lily," Maggie called, leaving the hospital wing with a smile on her face. "Liiily, your boyfriend wants to see you."

"Alright, alright, Mags," Lily said, rounding the corner. "I was just coming to find him, actually. You're in a good mood. I take it James told you about Sirius."

"Yes, he did," Maggie grinned. "I'm going to see him now. I'm so excited."

Lily laughed. "Go on, then. I'm just going to go hang out with James for a while."

Lily entered the hospital wing and sat on the plastic chair across Morgan's bed from James. "What's up with her?" Lily asked.

James looked up and shrugged. "I have no idea."

Lily nodded and silence descended upon the hospital wing. She looked around. The room was completely white, even the beds and the sheets. She sighed at looked at Morgan, who was undoubtedly hurt. Her blonde hair was stringy and was spread across the white pillowcase. Lily sighed and looked out the window to the dark night. The sky was a beautiful, velvety navy blue, and it looked so soft that Lily wanted to reach up and touch it. She sighed again, and this time James told her.

"What's up?"

"The sky looks so beautiful."

James craned his neck around to look out the window behind his head. "Yeah," he said very softly, as though he was trying to avoid disturbing a sleeping animal. "It does."

"I just want to go outside and touch it."

"Well, I can't help you touch it, but why don't we go outside?"

Lily looked regretful. "It's past midnight, James. That's against the rules."

James shrugged, a half smile playing at his lips. "Has that ever stopped me before? Live a little, Lil."

Lily smiled. "Alright, but I swear to God, if we get detention…" Her voice trailed off in a threatening manner.

James stood, chuckling softly. "Don't worry, we won't."

Lily followed him out the wooden door of the hospital wing, letting it softly swish shut behind her, closing off Madam Pomfrey's view of the young couple. "To be young and in love," she sighed, her mind exploring her past. "I'll let it go tonight."

James pushed open the huge oak doors and laughed in pure joy as the night air hit his face. His laugh had always been infectious, and Lily joined in. She wasn't sure what it was about James Potter, but he made everyone want to be closer to him. No one could get enough of him. He was charismatic, attractive, friendly, smart and talented at Quidditch, no doubt, but there were others with some or all of those traits. _Something _set James apart to the school and more importantly to her. Letting her thoughts float away in the night breeze, Lily collapsed on the cool grass and gazed at the shining stars in the dark blue sky. James lay down next to her, arms splayed around him.

"I love nighttime," he said. His breath danced up above his mouth before disappearing, as it does in cold winter air.

"Me too," Lily exclaimed, turning her hair to look at him. "Most people get scared at night, but I- I just love the mystery of the darkness."

James smiled up at the sky. "It's so beautiful."

Lily looked at him. "James?"

He turned his head to examine her face. Her red hair was the only bit of her that he could see in the extreme darkness. "Yeah?"

"How do you do it? You just have this _quality,_ I guess, that makes everyone want to get to know you better."

"You mean other than my looks, talent, intelligence, charisma and girlfriend, right?" James joked.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Yes, James. I mean other than those qualities that you so modestly listed."

James laughed before thinking quietly for so long that Lily thought he had decided not to answer. Finally he spoke so softly that she almost did her his words. "My dad used to say that I had this amazing resiliency. When the most horrendous things happened to our family, I always bounced back the fastest. It hurt me as much as it hurt everyone else, but at the same time, I would always be okay a few days later. My cousin, Octavia, was hurt when we were in fourth year. It was a death eater. The healers at St. Mungo's weren't sure if she'd ever be the same again, but she was. She was in the hospital for four months, and everyone was a wreck except me.

"I don't know, Lil. Maybe it's my resiliency. Maybe it's the fact that something horrible can happen, and I can rebound from it and have fun. I don't know, Lil. Does that sound right to you?"

Lily smiled and shook her head in disbelief. "You are amazing, James Potter."

James sat up and moved to sit right next to her. "Amazing?" he whispered, the complimentary words playing across his brain, stopping him from thinking at all.

Lily nodded. "That's what I said."

James smiled and leaned down. Lily closed her eyes and waited for him to kiss her, but it never came. She opened her eyes and saw James examining her face.

"What?" she asked, suddenly more self-conscious than she'd ever been in her life.

"You're beautiful," James told her. His lips met hers in a sweet, wonderful kiss. He pulled away from her after a moment, but she leaned back in. Her hands found their way into his unruly, yet soft black hair, and James' were supporting her at the small of her back.

Eventually, he pulled away and looked down at the woman in front of him. "Lily Evans," he said. "You are beautiful."

Lily looked away from James' face and across the dark ground, thankful the night was masking her blush. "Thank you," she murmured.

"No need to thank me," James said, lying back down. "I tell the truth."

Lily giggled softly. "Thank you," she repeated.

They lay in silence on the grass for a long time before Lily finally spoke in a timid voice. "James, what happened to Octavia?"

James looked at her. He could see her features arranged in a fearful expression from the light of the slowly rising sun. "Lil, you weren't afraid to ask me that, were you?"

He hoped more than he had hoped for anything in a long time that she would answer no, but to his dismay, she nodded her head once.

James sat straight up and looked her in the eye. "Lily, I want you to trust me. It's so important to me. First, then I guess that you have to know that you can ask whatever you want, whenever you want, and I'll tell you the truth, I promise you that."

Lily nodded and looked slightly ashamed. James continued, "Tavi was sixteen when she and her boyfriend went to Diagon Alley one night for dinner. They never came back. David had been murdered by death eaters, but Tavi put up quite a fight. They injured her severely but couldn't kill her. She was found by Gideon Prewett, and he took her to St. Mungo's. They're dating now. Tavi's 19 and Gideon's 20."

Lily nodded again and sighed. "Look at the sunrise, James. It's beautiful."

"Yeah," James sighed. "It is. This is what's amazing about you, Lil. You appreciate the little things in life. A sunrise, for instance, Courtney was like that. She appreciated the beauty of small things. You remember how I dated Sarah Parker in fifth year, right?" At Lily's nod, he continued. "Well, she was very attractive, funny, nice, you know, all those things that I look for in a girl, but she didn't appreciate the little things. It wasn't so much a thing like a sunset because I've never met a girl who doesn't appreciate a sunset, but she didn't appreciate things like grabbing the last blueberry muffin at breakfast or getting a compliment from say Professor McGonagall. I need a girl who does that, and you do."

* * *

On Monday, everyone noticed the change in James and Lily's interaction with one another. They sat together at breakfast. Despite their being best friends for most of the year, it was clear to everyone paying attention that their relationship had been elevated to another level. 

Lily was so incredibly happy, she was sure that she was on the verge of bursting. She had never liked some one so much in her life, and there had been some boys that she was sure she was in love with. Even with Jason Bradley the previous year, Lily had never felt weak in the knees at the sight of his smile, as she did with James.

The entire school watched the two or so weeks of obvious honeymoon period between Lily and James. When they were walking down the corridors, James' arm was always around Lily's shoulder, his fingers drawing mindless patterns on her arms or his hand squeezing the back of her neck. They were never away from one another. Lily was always in James' arms, his hand in her hair, on the small of her back, wrapped around her waist or holding her hand.

At the next Hogsmeade visit, in early December, three weeks after Sirius' release on November 17, Lily and James were obviously together. He took her to Honeydukes and then they walked down the streets. Peter watched his happy friends in absolute disgust, while waiting to meet with Snape and his cronies. He stared out the window of an obscure pub. Lily and James passed by, Lily on his best friend's back laughing nearly uncontrollably at something that James had said. It was sickening, how happy they were. Although neither of them looked nearly as in love as James and Lily, both Sirius and Maggie and Remus and Morgan passed Peter's lookout, looking 20 times happier than Peter had ever been.

He could help but envy his friends. Had he really made the right decision to support Voldemort? Was it too late to back out? He didn't think so. And with that thought, Peter Pettigrew ran. He ran faster and harder than he ever had before and didn't stop until he was his bed in the Gryffindor boys' dormitory, shoes still on. Once he had locked the door with his wand from his bed, Peter mulled things over in his head. Why couldn't he be as brave as James was? James could stand up to anybody. He didn't care what people thought of him, although he did greatly value Sirius' opinion, and he was the best friend that anyone could ever ask for. Peter sighed. He couldn't do anything about that. Lying in his bed, feeling fairly pathetic, Peter vowed to himself that he would do whatever he could to avoid the Slytherins he had gotten himself into that mess with and reestablish his relationships with the other Marauders.

**Thank you so much. Please take a moment to review. It's what motivates me to update!**


End file.
